Transient Lives: Trans & Non-Binary People’s Encounters with the Harms of Work

Abstract

This ethnographic criminological research aimed to address several theoretical gaps in the existing literature surrounding trans people, vulnerability, and victimisation. The overarching objective of this study was to offer a revised account of the harms trans people encounter in relation to their work via a new theoretical framework which is informed by ultra-realist criminology, critical hate studies. The theoretical framework was informed by contemporary criminologies of the harms of work, as opposed to the harms the institution of work is argued to inflict upon intersectional aspects of the individual’s social identity. This thesis aimed to reconceptualise the harms trans workers encounter in relation to work, to offer an account of the harms trans people are subject to, but not the harms which the trans worker might identify, engage with, and unconsciously sustain. Through the literature reviews and theoretical chapter, this thesis established three key research questions 1) What kind of subject is it which enters the workplace, and in what ways does this subject carry the potential to harm the self and/or others? (see chapter six). 2) What does this subject desire? How has this desire been shaped, influenced, and identified with in relation to work as well as the broader future? (see chapter seven). 3) What are the key sites of exploitation or ‘demands’ of work, and what means are available to the subject to mitigate or overcome them? (see chapter eight). To answer the research question this study deployed online, ethnographic interviewing conducted over several months with seven participants, and analysed the data according to the theoretical framework. This data was transcribed and analysed by the researcher, allowing for an in-depth appreciation and interpretation of the data gathered. This study demonstrated a complex interplay between the trans subject and the relationships, institutions, cultures, and ideologies through which it emerges which the currently structuralised, identity-oriented criminological and zemiological studies currently overlook. In reconnecting with the concept of subjectivity and shifting from the notion of trans identity to a broader notion of embodiment, this study offers new explanations for the harms trans people encounter in relation to their work

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Plymouth
Supervisor	Zoë James (Director of Studies (First Supervisor)), Oliver Smith (Other Supervisor) & Katie McBride (Other Supervisor)