Dissertation Research: Waste Management, Environmental Remediation, and the "Culture" of work

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9400609 Martin This project supports the dissertation research of a cultural anthropologist from Johns Hopkins University. The student will observe and interview workers in several Department of Energy (DOE) sites where nuclear weapons are dismantled and hazardous materials managed. The project will show how the cultural assumptions of workers affect their conceptions of the value of their work. Specific hypotheses to be tested are that the conversion from weapons to peaceful technology (from "making weapons", a masculine activity, to "cleaning up", a feminine job) is seen by workers as a feminization and deskilling of their activity. Methods include formal interviews of active and retired workers, to assess changes in interpretations of the work over time, as well as interviews with administrators and participant observation in community life. This research is important because the transformation from war-production to civilian goods involves changes in the cultural context of the work place. Increased understanding of how workers conceptualize the value of their work can help decision makers design programs of increased efficiency. ***