DUST:

A Study in Sociological Miniaturism

Gary Alan Fine
Northwestern University

Tim Hallett
Indiana University
Following lhe pcrspective of 'sociological miniaturism: proposcd by Stoltc, Fine.
and Cook (200 1), we examine the signicance of dust in social life in ordcr to exa mine Lhe reverberations of the micro-features of everyday life on social structure.
Through th e examin ation of thc routine, the uncxamined, and the commonplace, we
hope to gain some insi ght on how lhe taken-for-granted aspects of livcd cxpcrience
lit into the larger social order. Dust. by virlue of ils "smallness," provides a window
through which we can explore social structural issues using micro ociological analysis. Specifically we examine how dust and techniques for its control are linkcd to
issues of gendcr, work, politica l cconomy, and nation.
Vast is the kingdom of dust! Unlike Lerrestrial kingdoms. it knows no limits. No
ocean rnarks its boundaries. No mountains hem it in. No parallels oJ lati tudc and longitude define its boundless areas, nor ca n the (arthermosl stars in lhe iJ1finitudes of
space serve other than as a twinkling oulposl of a reaJ m as vasl as the univcrse
- J. Gordon Ogden, Tite Kingdom of Dust

Some lime ago 11 was considered for an academic posilion lhat l d id 1101 u/1imate/y
receive. Ajier lhe dust had se11led1 a frien d on the f aculty explained that the j1.1s1ificalion for
1he rejection was ph.rased "he'.~ suc/1 a min.iaturist." The impfication was thai for some of
his co/leagues being a miniaturist was incompatible 1vith being a sociologis1.
Following in 1he g rand tradition of the Frend1 lmpressio11ists in which deviants pro11dly
and defiamly accepc the gibes o.f th.eir crilics to defin e and de.fend 1hemselves, / embrace the
/a be/ "socio logical minialurist." A s a social psychologist l Jiave lo ng been fascina1ed by
1he 111icro-organization of everyday life, but simulumeously I have a buming passio11 10
examine how those mundane charac1eris1ic.1 of social existence fi1 imo /arger schem es.

Prcsidential address delivered at Midwest sociologicnl Socicty, Milwaukce. Wisconsin. April 5th. 2002.
Direct all corresponclence to Gary Alan Fine. Oepanment of Sociology. 1810 Chicago Avcnue. Northwcstem Univcrsity, Evanston.
llhnois 60208; e-mail: g-finc@oonhwcstcrn.edu

The Sociologicnl Quurterly, Volume 44. Numb er J, pugcs J - 15.

Copyright 2003 byThe M idwest Sociologkal Socicty.
A li rights rcscrvcd. Scnd requests for permission to rcprint to: Rights und Pcrmissions, University of California l'ress,
J oumuls Division, 2000 Ceo ter St., Ste. 303. Ucrkeley. CA 94704-U23.
ISSN: 0038-0253; onlinc l SSN: l533-8525

THE SOCIOLOGICAL QUARTERLY Vol. 44/No. 1 /2003

A rcccnt article in th c A111111al Revie1v nf Sociology (S toltc. Cook . and Fine 200 1) prescnts propositions behind a sociological miniaturism. Wc can observe and understand
large social systems through the examination of the smallest conditions of life. In short.
the anicle attempts to provide a chan er for a distinctly sociological ~ac ial psychology: a
micro-leve! approach th at is not depc ndent on thc unique characteristics of individual
actors, but links lhe smallest social forces with thc largest and th e tiniest interaction
arenas to thc more cxpansive.
111e power of the miniaturist approach is that it permits rccognition of thc dense texture of evcryday lifc. H pcrmits sociologists to recognize th e detailed organiza tion of
substantive domains, and. in its detailed cxamination o f process, it pcrmits a more comprehcnsive exploration or how va rious lcvc ls of organiza tional constraint collccti vcly
channcl bchavior. Miniaturism assumcs that processes and products transcend levels.
The phenomena th at apply to one lcvel o f analysi s (c.g.. the interpersonal) can also be
observed on other levels (e.g., th e institutional or interorga oizati onal) (White 1992;
Harringlon and Fine 2000). The uniquc and personally experienced rcality for an ind ividual can credibly be understood in light of how individ uals are linkcd together and
bow they experieoce the smallest. most micro-realitics o[ wbat Erving Gof(man nicc ly
referred to as the 'interaction ordcr."
In considering t apies for a presidential addrcss, we searched for a case that would
permil an argument for thc study o f thc reverberation s of thc micro-fea tures o f evcryday life. Through th e cxaminati on of thc routine, thc unexamined, and the com monplace. we hoped to gain sorne purchase on how th e quotidian fits into thc largcr social
order.
To thi s end , we selected the soci ology o f dust, not a recognized sociological subspecialty, but on e lhat has considerable power in explaining the linkage o f personal cxperience, interactional conditions, and structural reality. We follow thc impulse o f C. Wright
Milis" ( 1959) sociologica l imagination, linking the personal and the institu tiona l. Milis.
hailing from Waco, Texas. might particularly appreciatc an analysis of dusl.
Dust is co nnected to th e co re o f human identity. Wc remark th at from dust we are
born and to dust wc rerurn ,2 and in Genesis (2:7) observe that " God form ed Acl am of
dust from the ground.'' A sh Wednesday is a metaphorica l testament to the equivalcnce
of life and dusl. Ecologically. in this mc taphor, we are part o f the world and th e world is
pan of us. For rnuch o f human history, prior to the microscope, dust represente<.! the
limit of th e visual differentiation o f th c world. Dust serves as a boundary for our
humanity. 3
Joseph Am ato (2000, p. 2) speaks o f a fundamental scienlific and ociologica l revolution: thc rcvolution of thc minusculc. Not only can wc now see incredibly tiny things, wc
know that this minuscule maller is prescnt, <Uld we trca t itas real. Dust no longer rcrresents th e limit o f thc kn owablc. but it retain s its power to divide and threa ten. reminding
us o f th c limits o( our control ovcr th e environmenl.
To undcrstand lhc ocia! structurc of dust. we presenta survey o f the po ilion o f dust
as it engagcs core sociologica l issues, suggesting that dust is embcdded in our social system . This will be a fine-grained analysis. Specilically we examine th e organization or dust
in light o f gender, political cconomy. work. and nationalism. Th ese linkages by no mea ns
exhaust the sociologica l study o f this worthy tapie.

Dust

DEFINING DUST
To begin, we rcquire defini tions. and as is so oflen the case. matters are not as simple as
Lhcy appear. Dust as a verb is a word with diametrically opposite meanings. One can
" dusr' a cake with sugar. In doing so, one spreads particulates whcre none had been
previously. In contras!. onc can " dust'' a housc, or perhaps a cake, removing the particulates. To dust can mean lo make dusty orto remove dust.
Our concern is less with th e verb than with the noun . Thc first definition comes from
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary: " fine dry pulverized particles of matter: 1l1is is
perhaps an adequate place to begin. although onc might note finely granulated sugar is
not dust, while little bits of wool would be so considered. Bits of carth represen! the
archetypal form of dust. What is most significan! is that dust is not simply a thing (or set
of things, since it is a collective noun). but it is invested with social meaning. ln Peanws.
Charles Schultz's Pig Pen, urrounded by a dust cloud. is characteri zed by that depiction. A s we will emphasize lhroughout this article, dust belongs to a moral narra tive.
Dusl ca n be a surrogate for the abscnce of soci al concern . Sorne librarics are
reported to determine which books to deaccession on th c basis of stock turn over,"
determined through the " dust check''; can one blow dust off the pages of the book
(H aynes 2000. p. l 1)? In this case. thc prcsence of dust is an unobtrusive measure for a
lack of interest in th e content of the book . Consider. too, th e moral concern s behind the
pitched battle in Toronto ovcr whether public schools should be cleancd lo a lcvel of
cleanliness defined as "ordcrly spotlcssness' or only to "ordina ry tidincss... The school
board, facing a tight budget and having recently laid off four hundred caretakers, opted
for thc latter. As a headlinc noted. "Spotlcss Standard Too Ttdy: A Bit of Dust Okay by
School Board-Perfect is Pricey'' ( Brown 2000, n.p.), reminding us of the link to politica l economy and governmcnt al policy. Toronto youngstcrs-or rathcr Lh eir parentsmight have been relievcd th at the board did not selecl Lhe remaining three levels of
cleanliness casual inallen tion," " modera te dinginess: or " unkempl neglect.''

DUST ANO GENDER

Although much has changcd in th e way thal women are viewed in Western socictics, a
wife is oflen judged on the impression lhal 'her" home makes. Part of impression managemenl for a woman- particularly, Lh ough not exclusively. a wife-is a funclion of the
"cleanliness of her house. H er skills ru b off on olhers' evalualion of her fam ily. and
considerable pressure-even brutal physical abuse-may be brought to bear on a
woman who does not uphold fam ily honor in her dust managcrnent, according to her
husbands standards. A moral evaluation of the woman' character in her o/fice as housewife i easily ascertained simply by running a finger over a shelf, feeling and observing
whether dust was collected. 1l1is assessment may be shared by the woman herself- wilh
cleanliness becoming a compulsion (Kl cinman forthcoming)-as the moral of clea nliness
has been inscribccJ in her very soul. Thal this is a matter of impression management is
evident in the facl Lhal lhe public paces of homes are Lypically more dust-free than the
prvate spaces. Yet, concern wi th the control of dust is a luxury, not crnphasized in earlicr centuries (prior to Lhe mid-nineleenth cenwry) or in preindustri al communities.
As M ary Douglas ( 1966) notes in Purity and Danger, dust and dirt are lhings Lhat are
cognitively "out of place'' ancl. thus. threa tening.1l1e presencc of dust represents a failure

TH E SOC IOLOGICAL QUARTERLY Vol. 44/ No. 1 /2003

of control over th e environmcnt. This fai lure is more than a technical glitch; it is a moral
breakdown. Clcanlincss, John Wcslcy remarkcd, is nex t Lo godliness, and a belic f
existcd, more evident in the writings of nincl ccnlh-century social rcformers Lhan today,
thal cleanlincss has an explicil virtuous character.4 Being clean was equivalent to being
pure. Benjamn Franklin suggested th al personal clcanliness led to " human fclicity"
( Hoy 1995. p. 4). Dr. Southwood Smith (q uoted in Horsfield l 998, p. 87), an English
re form er, wrote:
A clean. frcsh ancl wcll-orden:d housc cxerciscs over its inmalcs a moral, no less lhan
a physical inftucnce ancl has 11 dirccl lenclcncy lo make lhe members of lhe fami ly
sober , peaccablc and consideraic of lhe fcelings and happiness o f each ol her:
whereas a filthy. squalid. unwholesomc dwelling. in which nonc of lhc dcccncics common to society are or can be observcd, lcnds direc1ly lo makc cvery dweller rega rdless of the fcelings and happiness o f cach other . se lfish and sensual.

Social workers assumcd that the " filth"" that Lh ey observed in homcs-often those of Lhc
immigrant or indigent-markcd depravity. The Encyclopedia of Domeslic Economy of
1844 asserts that cleanliness is thc '"parent of virtues" and adds that cleanliness is
an cmblem. if not a charactcrislic. of puri1y of lhoughl and propricl y of conducl. Il
secms as if il could 1101 be associa1ed with vicious pursui1s: so rarel y, in lhc habitually
proligale charac1cr. are the active and wholcsome habits of cleanliness perceptible.
( H orsficld 1998. p. 88)

These moral claims are now supported by academic research. lnvestigators have
asserted based on data from the Panel Study of lncome D ynamics that th ere is a causal
link between a clean home and thc educational and financia! outcomes of children, even
controlling for income, parents education. outside cleaning help, loca tion of residence.
or number of siblings. In comparison to children from dirty homes. children growing up
in clean homes had more ycars of education and higher incomes (Sefton 200 1. p. L;
Dunifon, Duncan. and Brooks-Gunn 200 1).
Once the germ th eory of discase had become ingrained, dirt and dust were scen as
the rcposi tory of these germs. William A llen in his 1909 Civics and Hea/th called for
courses in "germ sociology." Nursing students were told. " Wh ere there is dirt there are
pathogenic germs, wh ere there are pathogenic germs, therc is disease" (H orsfield 1998,
p. 100). An 1892 household guide ("An Experienced H ousewife") warned women that
"cvcry particle of dust is a particle of danger." Thc dust may be from green wallpaper
colored with arsenic. Even worse was th e claimed connection between dust and tuberculosis. The bclicf thal dusl is linked to diseasc remain s wi th us today, reminding us why
we toss out food that has faJlen on the loor of our own kitchens. ignoring the scandalous
conditions of th ose factories in which it was firsl processed (Schlosser 200 1). Today we
are concerned about severe allergic and asthmatic reactions to dust mi te excreta.
Dusting proves to be a paradoxically dangerous activity in th at it often agitates l he
dust tbat has accumulated, spreading it tbrough the air. Dusting causes families to
breathe this disease-ridden substance, leading to campaigns against fea ther dusters and
brooms. But tbe situation grows worse. Objects degenerate. but nothing ' degrades"
more than human beings. We shed hair, dandruff and skin. Our outcr layer of skin- lhe
srra111m corneum- is shed evcry threc days. TI1 at is sevcn billion sea les of skin per person.

Dust

Sorne est ima te that dead skin constitutes 90 percent of household dust (Horsfield 1998,
p. 186). Unnte ntio nally we swallow lhesc bits o skin, cannibals by necessily, though not
by choice. Th rough Lhe co urse of living and brea thing, we are lhe world.
In an anal yss o f lhe histo ry of bouseclcan ing, Biting th e Dust, Ma rga rc t H orsfie ld
( 1998, pp. xiii- xiv) argues:
Kceping our homes clcan involves a grea t deal of time and effort; it arouscs strong
feelings and prefercnccs and prej udiccs; it conj ures up bizarrc practiccs. deeply
ingrained bclicfs, and decades of powcrful conditioning.. .. [Altitudes about cleaning] providc a kind of social barometer that relects the changing role o f women. the
changing economic and social patterns ot' the last century and a hal f.

Women have had the responsibiLity of prolecling the home from dusl a nd dirl; they
a re lhe guardians o f domesticity (Hoy 1995. p. xiv. 7). An adverliseme nl for the 1898
lnte m ational HealU1 Exposi tion in New York notc d: ''Wome n are bom sanilaria ns. and
abhor dirt, da rkness a nd disease." The Victori a ( British Columbia) Daily Times wrote
the nex t year: " Wo mcn are th e reaJ sanita ria ns. and it ough t lo be the ir province to
keep the mselves clea n a nd free from th e d iseases o f dirt, to keep the ir homes clca n,
to keep tb eir stree ts el ca n, lo keep their towns cle an ., (quote d in Ho rsfie ld 1998, p. 162).
111e p ublic spaces of a c ty were the appropri ale location for men; thc he a rth was sel
aside for women ( Hoy 1995, p. 16). In thc ni neteenth cenlury, stree ts fi lled wth ma nure
a nd sewage could be brought into the ho me, pa rticula rly lhrough lhc he m o f the long
dresses of women who ventured into this male domain. One houschold guide wa m ed
a bo ut streel dirt th at was lnked to whe re "me n expecto rate" (Ha lpc nny and IreJa nd
1911 ). Spit a nd polsh, indecd.
This assignrnent o f wom en to clea ning diminishe d the role o f women. na turaliz ing
their do mesticity (Oakley 1974). Barbara .Ehre nre ch and D e rdre English (1978, pp.
24-26) suggest Lha t the germ Lheory provided the basis of a crusade aga inst dirt. a challe ngc tha t domestic scie ncc expe rls fe lt was suitable for lhe abilities o f c duca ted womc n,
kee pi ng the m Ero m thc public sphe re. Ehre nre ich ( 1995. p. 26) concludes:
Housework-as-we-know it ... was invented ... around the tum of thc ccntury for tbe
precise purpose of giving middle-class women somelhing Lo do ... Enter the domesticscicnce experls, a group of ladies who, i f cvcr there is a fcminist hell, will be torlured
eternally with fcather dusters. These wcrc womcn who made carecrs out of telling
other women Lhcy couldn' Lhave careers. because housework was a big enough job in
itsel f.

Betty Frie da n ( 1963) in The Feminine Mystique ex te nds Lhis a rgume nl by pointing to the
suggcstion of a la ter gene ration of marke t resca rchcrs that e ncourage::d wome n to feel
guilty and a nxio us about invisible dirt. Bccoming a n expert househo ld techn ician, she
would the n be ready to purchase a li thc specia li zed products th at ma nufacture rs had to
offcr. The io vention and ma rke ting of thc vacuum cleaner th at "'eats up' dusl, sa nd, gril ,
lint- a ny kind of dirt" ( Hoy 1995. p. 152) exe mplifies this process. 111e vacuum cleane r
was partia lly responsible for the decline o f a marke t for maids (simul ta neous with the
e nd o f immigra tion ) a t least umil Lhe rise o f dua l-ca reer families a nd increased immigration once agai n. The lechno logy of du t manageme nt he lpe d to structu re economic
opportunities.

THE SOCIO LOG ICAL QUARTERL Y Vo l. 44/No. 1 /2003

This fe minisl a rgume nl has its effecls as women ar e now self-co nscious aboul claiming lhal lhey are competent ho useclea ne rs. a nd low- paid se rvicc worke rs are once agai n
ava ilable to clean the homes of e lites. Some wives, such as our current First Lady, clairn
10 find " bouseclea ning" a form of re laxati on ( Blowen 2001, p. 04). persuading t he mselves lhat their "second shifl'' (H ochschild 1989) is truly leisure. Dusling is acceptab le
so lo ng as it is self-aclua lizing! Horsfield ( 1998, p. 1) remarks lhal her informan Is routin ely denigrated their ho use keeping abililie : 1 hardly ever clean-you should see my
place!"' o r " You wan t to know somelhing aboul clea ning? Do nt come 10 my house."
One woman claimcd , " lf l donr see d irl, it cloesn' t bothe r me.... So J just don'l look'"
( Hoy 1995, p. J80). Be ing a poo r cleaner may now be more self-c nh a ncing lhan being a
good o ne, a recognilio n o f recent writers of ho usehold h elp ma nuals: Is There Life After
House1Vork? (A slett 1992), The M essies Ma1111al: The Procras1ina1or's C uide 10 Good
Housekeeping (Fello n 1981), Polish Your F11mit11re wi1h Pamy Hose (G reen 1995). The I
Hate 10 Housekeep Book (B racke n l 962), o r Confessions of a11 Organized Homemaker
(Schofie ld 1994 ).
Conte mpo rary novels tha t include compulsive cleane rs oh e n suggest that this neuro tic" urge lo dust re fl ecls sexual frigidily (Ho rsfeld 1998, p. 16). 1n Judith Summers
(1988) novel /, Gloria Gold, th e eponymous he ro ine is transform ed thro ugh a torricl
love affair from compulsive housekecper whose home is draped in dust sheets Lo a
woman who rejects impassio ned housecleaning. Simone de Bea uvoir (1953, p. 452) considered that meticulo us housework o ffered wornen a ftight from them el ves. She wrilcs,
"This flighl may o fte n ha ve a sex ual tinge.... Love of the fl esh and its an imality is conducive to lole ratio n of huma n odour. dirt, a nd eve n vermin."
Clearl y, ho useho ld dust is a moral mallc r, a nd it is one in whi ch males and fema les
have diffe rc nl roles. 5 The a bse nce of dust reveals the efficie ncy a nd femininity of
wome n. Me n, the workers, a re supposed to be dusly: children. th e players, are supposed
lo be dusty; women a re supposed lo domesticate lheir public parlicipation and cleanse
1be ir famil ies. It is through con trol of lhese liny specks of mo rality thal wome n demonstra te the successful pe rfo rmance o f thei r ge nde r roles. H owever. this social psychological perspective is cha nging, re vealing a crack in lhe culture of clean liness. SuEllen Hoy
suggcsls lhal the l 950s may have been thc pinnacle of this cleanly culture: the changes
in women's role in th e econorny have becn rnirrored in our altitudes toward dirt and
grime: making natura l, a ulhcntic d ust culturally legitima re.
DUST ANO POLITICAL ECONOMY

Socio logist Everetl Hughes (197 1, pp. 343- 345) spoke of a class of labor lhat he called
" dirly work.'" Laboring places and thcir occupants are ko own by the cooditions (both
physical and moral) of lhe ir to il. By this Hughes was no t referring e ntirely to those
workers who gel dusty (hangmcn and butche rs also e ngage in dirty work), but those who
labor in grime are often stigmatized by thal association, even though those doing clea n
work de pe nd on thesc dirly work e rs. White colla rs do not gel dusty; bluc collars and
blue jeans are colored to bide dust. Dusl is linked to social class. Jndeed, one operational defin itioo of being a ma nuaJ laborer is whelher one has dirt unde r o ne's fingcrnails. As evide nce of its social class loca ti on. dust has been called "beggar's velvet" or
"slut's wool" (A ma to 2000, p.14).

Dust

The fa rm econo my de pe nds on din. or course, except agricullu ral peoplc call it soil"
(personal commu nicatio n, Ma rgie Towery, 2003). But alt itudes towa rd dirt and dust
exte nd beyond this a nd can be co nstructed as a n indicator of authe nticity a nd ho nor
with in a rural context. Dirt is "a sure sigo of plain living, honest toil, a nd physical
fitness., (Hoy 1995, p. 22). Mark Twain ([18831 1980. p. 29), perhaps satirically, explained,
"l11ere was nutritio usness in the mud, and a ma n th at drunk Mississippi wa te r could
grow corn in his stomach if he wanted to."
Jusi as the South was pe rmanently tra nsformcd, politically as well as cconomically.
by air conditio ning, the Great Plains was transformed by irrigation . l rrigation practices
diminished the likelihood or a rc pe titi on of the farm crisis of the l 93Us- the Dust
Bowl- but fa rming practiccs, including unregul ated grazing a nd inte nsive agriculturc in
drought-prone a reas, allow us to see tha t this me teorological event e me rged from decisio ns in volvi ng the survi val needs o f individual families a nd the e ncouragement of la rger
institutions, including the federal government. A s Ama to (2000, p. 7) pul it, "Each handful of dust judged a people's ma nageme nt o f its la nd."
Dust carne to characte ri ze the l 930s, a nd was so dra ma tic that tlle te rm was used
Joosely ( Bonn ifield 1979; Wo rste r 1979). The Joads, who were Okies, heading to Califo rnia fro m Oklahoma in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. were strictly spea king not
" Dust Bowl Re ugees." Thc Dust Bowl, admittedly a n imprecise geographical region.
was the area of the weste rn prairie, covc ring southwestem Ka nsas. the Oklahoma strip.
the panhandle o f Texas. northwestcrn N ew Mexico, a nd southweste rn Colorado. Estima tes of its area were as high as 150,000 square miles. Ye t. most of the dust bowl
.nigrants so prominent th roughout the J930s-and used for political e nds by the lcft
(Klein l 980: Aptho rp 1990)- were no t fro m this regio n. Nor were they destitute "din
farmers .. (Grego ry 1989), even though a sub ta ntial populatio n of the a rea did migrate
o ut duriog th e Dust Bowl years of 1931- 1939. The image of dust in accounts of prairie
pove rty a nd depopulation are evide nt in the titles of scholarly a nalyses. such as Rooted
in Dust (R iney-Kehrberg 1994) a nd Empire of Dust (Jones 1987). E ven though the
phrases 'dust bowl'' and "dusl bowl rcfugees .. did not ad equa tely capture the e mpiricaJ
reality of migrant or indigenous cul ture (Dunbar-O rtiz 1994; We lle r 1995), they resona ted as politically pote nt slogaos for gain ing sympalhy a mo ng Americans from o utside
the region.
Not only agricultura] environments a re linked to tlle imagc (a nd the obdurate rca lity) o f dust. Industrial work is involved as well. Many industrial domains (e.g., lumber,
mining) involve the transformation of na tural objccts into dust as a ce ntral fea ture of
the technology. Thc decisio n of individual e ntreprcne urs to loca te production in centralized geographical zones focuses the production a nd distribu ti on of dust.. Thc prescncc o f
dust in workplaces both lead s to. and is perceived to lead to, disease a nd impove rishcd
working conditions as well as poo r living conditions in surround ing a reas (A ndrews
1996). lt is no surprise tha t the growth of industrial socie ty was link ed to the belief tha t
dust was the ca use o f illncss and tha t collective action had to address th is insidio us me nace (Ama to 2000, p. 9).
We find black lung amo ng coal mine rs (Judkins L979; De rickson 1998), brown lung
a mong textile workers (G uarasci 1986; Bo tsch 1993). a nd two types o f white lung a mong
asbestos worke rs a nd ba ke rs. ln D eadly Dust, David Rosne r a nd Gerald Markowitz
(199 1) trace the constructed rise and fa ll of the dust-related disease, silicosis, a disease
o f thosc who work with sand-rela ted ma terials. Each occupa ti onal haza rd has its own

THE SOCIOLOGICAL QUARTERLY Vol. 44/ No. 1 /2003

poli tics a nd social moveme nts. Eve n childre n, particularly poor children, are threate ned
by dust, s uch as that fro m lead paint in d eterio rating a nd dilapidated housing a nd schools
( Wessel and Dominski 1977).
Dust does no t affect o nly th ose wo rkers closest Lo its production. It has been estima Led that forty-t hree millio n tons o f dust settle ove r th e United States every yeara lth ough how this fig ure was a rrived a t is not described a nd presum a bly is implicated in
the constructi o n o statistics so we ll described by Joe l Besl (2001) in Damned Lies and
Statistics. Of tbe fo rty-three millio n tons. twelve milli on to ns are said to be the res ult of
hum an activit ies. Industria l areas may rece ive as ma n y as two hundred tons of dust per
squa re mi le each mo nlh , according to a statistic put forth by a n unnamed claimsmaker
citcd by an unname d journalist in the Montreal Gazelle. Sorne cities carry o n inte nsive
campaigns to re duce Lhe a mounl of ind ustrial dust in Lhe area, al tho ugh a li that dust
must go sorne place, whe re presuma bly it can escape. Further, dusts differ in size, color,
and health effects, de pe nding o n the type o[ industry in the a rea and the technological
proccsses used. Dust might almost be said Lo have a vintage. The dusts o f Rive r R o uge
di ffe r fro m those of H ibbing a nd Ga ry, each of which differ fro m the dusts o f Auschwitz.
Dusts are socia lly, poli tically, and econom ically o rganized with diffe re nt meanings. As
Amato (2000, p. 8) pungently no tes, " In the clusts of Au schwitz's crematori a historia ns
d eLect a diffe re nt mo ra l accusation from the one they fi nd in the radioactive dusts of
Che rno byl."
Du t does no t necessaril y re ma in w he re it o riginales. Students of environmental
racism no te Lhat certain locales o r ne ighbo rhoods may be recipie nts o f pollution. as
market forces lowcr a nd raise ho using prices as a function of the prese nce or absence of
e nvironme ntal co nta min atio n. In the words of Mand Isaacs (1999; see a lso Giamo
1992), dust is pa rt of the visua l vocabulary o f po ve rty. In addit io n, the dependence of
impove rished or industrial ne ighborhoods pe rmit these areas to be used as dumping
grounds for dust , dirt, a nd other fo rms o f foulness, with Hispanics and African-Ame ricans
call ing fo r e nvironmental justice in mitigaLing th ese unpleasant and tox ic conditi o ns
(Bull a rd 1990).
Some citics o r regio ns are known for the ir industrial dirt and grime: "gritty" p laces.
fn the United Sta Les, Lhis label was attache d to Lbe no rthe rn cilies o f the " rust be lt," s uch
as Pittsburgh. a ltho ugh with Lhe decline of U.S. hea vy industry, as a fu ncti o n of cha nges
in the global ccono my, sorne of these a re as, s uch as Lowe ll, Massachusett s, have been
transformed into Lo urist siles. In E ngla nd , Ne wcastle was known as suc h a n industrial
city. 111e expression for re dundant behav io r was " bringing coals to Newscastle," but
Newcastle is now '' i11." One jou rna lisLnoted,
Ncwcastl e was the enginc of the Indust ria l Rcvolution: ' re first sLeam turbine and
the first stcam train carne from its workshops. But nonc of this inspired tourists to
visita place always perceivcd as grimy with coal dust. Until rccently. anyway. With its
revitalized riverside bars and restaurants, its vivacious art scene, elegant architeclu re
and underrated antiquities. Ncwcastle has bccome an urba n ch ic outpost of Cool
Britannia" (Roberts 200 1. p. IK).
While communiLi es such as N e wcastle ben e fit fro m de industria l transforma tio ns, Third
World natio ns have suffe re d the brunt of the new, dust-lade n industrialism, crea ting a
new class 01.. un washed masses.''

Dust

The po litical will or power is o ftc n not present to protect these areas from the migratio n o f particula tes. These po litical actors have difficulty in successfull y ncgotia ting with
othc r actors. Polluted dust. like na tural volca nic ash, may tl oa t from one region to another,
as in the case of acid rain o r radioacti ve plumes after a bovc-ground nuclear testing. The
c hoices o f the re presenta tivcs o f one political e ntity in dealing with industrial de tritus
a ffccts the life chances o f those living dowawind . unless sorne politica l accommoda tio ns
can be made. In this se nse, a minia turist can study issues o f the core a nd pe riphery o f the
wo rld system thro ugh the smallest, most secmingly unimporta nt phe no me no n-dust
a nd its social acto rs.

DUST AND NATIONALISM

Of a li the images on which to base a e nse of na tional o r c ultural cha racte r. dust would
seem to be one of the mo re peculiar. Ye t. people a re kno wn fo r the ir altitudes towa rd
dust, and this is ta ke n- whiche ve r way o ne prcfcrs-to reficct their mo ral order. Re ligious rituals a mo ng Orthodox Je wish wo men pre pa ring thcir ho mes fo r Passover are
matched by the e la bora te post communion rituals o f Ca tho lic priests in clea ring up the
crumbs of th e Eucharist th a t may have fa llen on th e altar. Sorne pa rishion ers be lieve
tha t communio n dust has miraculous healing power. A ny spcck of matte r o ut of place in
a Jewish home o r Ca tholic chu rch could defile o r consecra te.
Thc Dutch have long bee n known for the impo rta nce of cleanliness in their culture.
A s ea rly as th e seve nteenth century the Dutch pe ncha nt for cleanlincss was no ted.
tran sforming " houses" into '' ho mes" ( Hoy 1995. p. 16). Eve n keeping the public sidewalk in front of the house clean wa a civic duty e nforced by law. Shoes we re re moved
inside homes, and smo king a nd spitting we re no t pe rmitted . The e ighteenth century
writcr Tho mas Nugent d escribed the Dutch as " pcrfect sla ves to cleanlincss'' (quo tcd in
Horsfie ld 1998, p. 203). Wito ld R ybczynski ( 1986, p. 65) re ma rks in /-lome: A Short History of an Idea. that the Dutch word fo r clean is schoon, which also indica tes purity and
beauty. For the Dutch, clcanliness is linked to the acsthe tic.
Historian Simon Sch ama ( l 987, p. 375) goes deepe r in suggesting that the Dutch used
cleanliness to set themselves a pa rt fro m their d irty a nd ignoran! ne ighbo rs. To be clea n
was a fo rm o f patriotism, a nd it re Bected a militan! defen e o f nation. The Dutch poe t
Pie te r van Go de wijck (quoted in Horsfie ld 1998, p. 204) has o ne o f his fe male cha ractc rs
asse rt:
M y brush is rny sword; my broom my wcapon
Sleep 1 know not. nor any repose
N o labour is Loo heavy; no care Loo great
To make evcrything shine and spoLlessly ncat

That othe rs need not e mbrace the Dutch view o f self is e vide nt in th e re ma rk s o f
Simone de B ca uvoir (1953. p. 452) who, in a ttacking th e Dutch, claimed that purila nical
civiliza ti ons o ppose an idea o f clea nliness to the joys o f the flesh a nd no ted th al thc
Meditc rra nca n Midi li ves in a stale o f joyous fillh .
The Dutch a re not alo ne in this prcoccupatio n wi th dirt a nd dust. Sorne a rgue th at
Ame ricans, too, a re obsessed wi th clea nliness and find the mselves " chasing dirt," a d rama tic na tional c ha nge ove r two centuries from a time whe n most Euro pea ns fo und

10

THE SOCI OLOG ICAL QUARTERLY Vol. 44/ No. 'l /2003

Ame ricans to be dirty and disgusting, a Third Wo rld nation . One English travelcr.
Willia m Faux, dcscribed Midwes te rncrs in 18 19, as 'filthy, borde ring 0 11 the bcast ly"
(quo ted in H oy 1995, p. 7). Urbaniza tion clearly contributcd lo a dramatic changc, but
so did the Puritan and Pro testa nt tradilio n of America and the incrcas ing middle-class
characle r of American life. Once Am c rica ns becam e convert to the elhos o f clea nlincss.
certainly by thc late ninetcc nlh ce ntury. they e mbrace d it with a passio n, as part of thc
civilizing process so wc ll described by Norbert E lias (11 939] 1978). Dust becamc an
c nemy o f the good life. C lca nliness was seen as Amcricas .. grea tcst vi rtu e: and socia l
workcrs instructc d immig rnnts fro m so uthc rn and eastcrn Europc, who we re considered
pa rticul arly dirty and in nccd o f ins truction , tha t clca nliness was a part of Lh t: American
way o f liJe (Hoy 1995, p. 88). Th e masscs were secn as no t o nly huddlcd. hut un washed.
justas Anglo-Americans the mse lves had once bcen pe rccivcd. To becomc an American
is Lo be socializcd into socic tal standa rds for d ea ling wit h dust and dirt. Allhough the
claims are hea lth -rclatcd, they ha ve jus i as much to do with aest he tics. Part of the rebellion of the I 960s was the willingncss of young peo plc to flaunt their dirt. Thus, one o r th e
ce ntral lhe m es of the anack o n the countc r culture was lo cmph asize thcir filth. Hippi es
needcd to bathc. As Vice Pres ide nt Spiro A gncw o nce rc marke d abo ul yo uthful ra di cals: " ! would hope the wayward rew will casi o ff the blankct of filth a nd confusion ...
and re turn to the pursuit a nd . in time, to the rcaliza tion of th c A m e rican ideal"' (quoted
in Cal ho un 1970, r>P 81-82). Part of the count c r of th is culture was its all itude toward
din.
Othc r groups linked lo dus t have a llc mpt ed to change that image. A jo urnalis t
re po rts that Leon Bcar, the chic f o f th c Utah-based Goshut c tri be,
picked up somc o f Lhc chalky soil of thc western Utah descrt and crushcd it gently
in to his pa lm. A light pufr from his lips and iL vi nishcd in to th c uir. leaving a ghostly
powder covcring his hand , nwt \ why they call us Lhc Goshutcs.' he said with a sm ilc.
Our namc means "'d usty people." bccause my people always had 1his dust on thcm
when thcy roamcd the deserl country.' Bear is 1101 contcnL to allow his cconomically
disad va ntagcd 124-mcmbcr band Lo languis h in thc dusl any longer. As chie(. he
wants thcrn 10 havc computcrs, bctter cducllion. a heallh clinic. a dccenl water
sy tem. ncw homes and jobs. (quoLcd in Mecrsrnan 2000, p. 1A)
B ea r 's solutio n for his dusty tri be is to allow powc r compani es to store nuclea r was tc o n
triba l lands, pcrmitting thc m to lcad clean livcs likc thc ir fe ll ow Ame rica n citize ns, subs tituting visible dust for radioactivc particlcs.
TI1c associa tio n be tween dark c r-skinncd peoplc a nd dusl is wide ly fo und a m o ng
E uro-American cult ure::.. part o ( 'thc Great C lea n-U p" o f th e past ccntury (Am alo
2 000, p. 160). TI1is view is c nshrined in the innocc nt, if raciali st. question asked by young
white childre n. who o ftc n c mbarrass the ir parcnts by asking why a b lack strangcr is so
'dirty."' Race a nd dust see m so implica tc in "clea n .. cultures that the conncction appears
to be [ully natural , and is onc that is casil y tra ns fc rrcd to nations. Dis pa lches frorn the
Third Wo rld implicate dus t as a ce ntra l fcat ure o f the cx iste nce o f tbe imrovc rished- an
o ricntalism of thc minuscul c. Considc r:
On 1he s1ccp llank of a slccping volcano. 54-ycar old Aurnlio Miquanor hocs barcfooL
iJ1 Lhe hoL brown dust. swt:a l strca ming from bencat h hi ~ straw sombrero. (Epstein
and Montero 1994. p. IA)

Dust

11
Shazia Bibi sal wilh her friend!> in a cool dim room, her toes wriggling in d ust as
brown a nd fin e as cocoa. Her brow furrowing in concentration. the vi llage girl spat
on her slalc and wiped il clcan wi th her white slrnwl. ( Da hl bu rg 1994. p. 1)
Therc is precious liulc 10 s mile al about lifc in Mi~i~i. ... llic fine dusl hlows in swirls
around your head a~ you eros~ thc railway linc .... O nl y this is nol dus l. 11 is dried
human excrcment. (Valle ly 1998, p. 24)

11 is not that the e nvironments o f Mexico. Pakistan. and Zambia are nol dusty, but
1ha1 dust is taken as a fu ndame ntal metaphor- a powerful mctonymy- for the backwa rd conditions of lifc. Core nations in thc world economy are most concerned about
cleanliness, while periphcry nations. often rural. are scen as awash in d ust.

THE DUSTY DAYS OF SEPTEMBER

lt is ironic that this an a lysis of dust occurs aga insl the backdrop of Seplem be r l llh and
thc an lhrax a u acks. Our rccollectio ns o f Lhese hard and har h hours are linkcd 10 Lhe
miniscul c. CollccLive memories of bolh of these thrcaLs a re as ociated wi th tbc imagery
of tlusl. The destruction of Lhe World Trade Cc nt c r produccd c nonn ous clo uds of dust,
leadi ng to substa nLial pulm onary illnesscs amo ng rescuc workers a nd what has bee n
callcd " WTC Syndromc" (France 200 l , p. 10). Al the mo me nt of destruction a
fire fighter reported, apoca lyptically, "Thc sky turncd so black th a t it fe lL li ke we were in
he ll " (Stcin, Ne usnc r, H obson, and Levine 200 I, p. 58). Othe rs describcd the dust as
mak ing lhe sunny day "as black as nigh l." A ftcr the first towe r collapsed, "a fircball
zippcd down Broadway, covcring the a rea in thick white dusl a nd dccp darkness. ' t was
li ke swimming through black smokc,' said onc officer from th c Ncw York Shcrirrs
Department" (Gclz 200 1). Thl! blanketing of dusl served lo symboli zc the magnitudc of
th e a llack. The dust tha t covc red Lowcr Manhatla n served as an imagc o[ destruction
a nd , thc n, of hope. T11c New York Times ( Barry 2001. p. B9) reponed:
In Lowcr Man hallan. wa lls a nd windows ca rry inscriplions from rescuc workers. rcsidents. passcrs-by and lovcd ones uf those lost in the collapse of thc twin towers.
These missives. finding a use. at least. fur thc thick coats of dust and ash. serve as testaments to a dceply wounded bu t still rcsolute populace.... Perhaps a fo r mal memorial will be built someday. For now. therc Me thc walls and windo ws of Lowe r
Manbaua n. where tho usand uf mcssages havc hccn inscribcd in tbe gray snow of
destruction that fe ll two weeks ago tod ay.

The dust is a me laphor of destruction and simulla ncously ar rcsolute ncss and inspiratio n. Those massive towcrs became not hing more than piles of dust and debris. yc l it was
mea ningful dust and debris. We lookcd a t the limits of thc visual to find th e stre nglh of
o ur social ordcr.
Within wccks, the potcncy of dust e merged agai n in lhe anthrax scare. Dust , prcviously taken for gran ted, beca me not only the conscque nce of tlcstructi on, bul dest ruction
itself. 6 Peoplc noticing powder now saw lhemselvcs under atlack. As th c Washington Post
( Powell and Russakoff 200 1. p. A8) re po rted aboul life in thc post o fficc:
Clo uds of uus t and s hrcdded papcr and God knows what. Tha t is how maintcnance
man Jack Rutigl iano d escribes life a long thc assemhly li nc at thc vast postal sorting

12

THE SOCIOLOG ICAL QUARTERLY Vol. 44/ No. 1 /2003

ofce in M anh allan.111.:: workers wore no glovcs and no dust masks until a wce k ago.
Al the end of the day. thcy were direetcd to use compressed air to clean out the
machines, scnding more dust swirling. " Thercs jusi dust cvcrywhere. You can 'l tell
dust or anthrax: said Rutigliano. . . . " We havc lellers lhal ~hred completely. and
therc's no test to tell you whal you"re brcathing."'

Dust is th e vecto r tbroug h which rnyste rio us rnurde r occurs. a nd ali forrns o f dust
become uspect. A t this mo mc nt of pe rsona l and collective fea r and a nxic ty, the symbol
of dusl becomes thc symbo l o f ho pe, destructio n, hostility-and me mo ry.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF DUST

In this inqui ry we have a llc mpte d 10 de mo nstra te tha t dust-even dusl!- is linkcd 10
conseq uen tial socio logical concerns. Dust, like al l na med dorna ins. is socia lly si tu a1e d
and cu llurall y mea ningful. Each leve! o f the " inlinite g ra nula ri1y of things has meanin g
{Ama lo 2000, p. 177). Dusl, o nce recognized, becomes a cultura l ma rke r a nd is used to
crea te social ordcr. lf dusl see ms, at first g lance, 10 be me re na tural detritus, human
actors, comfortably and cas ily, g ive its prcsence a wide array of inte rpre ta tions. Dus t
comes to stand for divisio ns o f ge ndcr, class, occupation, and na tio n. In a world in which
the s mall is becoming increasingly visible {Ama lo 2000). the rea lm o f dus t stands for
o the r microscopic worlds: bacte ria. radioactivity, nano techno logy. and DNA codes.
TI1is investigati on bcga n by discussing the a pproach to social psychology Iabe le d
"socio logical mini a turism." 11 is to this concept that we re turn. The study o f dus t prcsents a dramatic instance o f the way th at socia l systc ms ca n be re lected a nd o rga nized
thro ug h specks a nd mo tes. The mall can serve as a markc r fo r the large. Howevcr,
sociological mini a turism exle nds beyond thc rea lity that socia l systems can invcst tiny
things with meaning. It suggests tha t it is throug h the inte ractio ns o f individua ls a nd
the ir groups 1hat the do ings o f socia l systc ms a re inscribed. He re. too. the s tudy o f dus t
can provide a g uide. l ssues o f control o f dusl are ha ndle d wi1hin fa mili cs. within workplaces, and by legisla tive committees. 111e presencc of dus t bccomcs a micro political
issue-addressed , used for individua l o r collecti ve c nds. o r igno red. To this e nd, groups
mobilize or divide. allempti ng to persuade o thers with more power orto e nact social control a mo ng thosc unde r the ir control. Dust, a fter a ll , is not simpl y some lhing tha t happcns.
It is some lhing with which grou ps mus t deal. As groups deal with dust, they reproduce lhe
large r cultures in which they are e mbcdded, they dcmo nstra te processe of con tention a nd
control, a nd they ncgotia te rncanings lhrough simila r processcs that occur in larger units.
The complaints of specific husbands a bout the ho usckeeping of specific wives are e nacted
in many familics and havc come to be socially rccognized. Migra tion decisio ns, madc by
particular farnilies. a re re lected in larger demographic pau e rns. lssues of wo rk conditions,
media ted through uni on activities, a re situated in an obdura le ccono mic ordcr thal may be
unbe nding for indi vidua l workers and owners. Even the strivings of neig hbo rs and villages
are located within a world syste m. Persona l agency mallers in response to dust, but the
structure that consists o f nume ro us agents wilh differential power a lso affccts outcomes.
111e social o rganiza tion o f dust nol only re llects thc social organiza tio n of gende r, lhe
political economy. and na tio n, bul il is a lso throug h lhe mea ning and ha ndling of dus t th at
gende r. the political econom y, and natio n become o rganized.

Dust

13

Througb sociological miniaturism , socia l psychology is integrated in to sociology. lt is

through palte rns in the dust tha t we recognize that the wo rld in all of its tiny particulars
is fundamentall y, essentially, and perpe tually socia l.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wisb to thank Richard Wilsnack for his comments on a n ea rlier version o f
this pape r.

NOTES
l. This article is slighlly unusual as il is a coaulho red presidential addrcss. The second a ulho r
served as the Midwesl Sociological Society sludcnt direclor. research assistanl, a nd collaborator
with the fusl autho r. A s such, he deserves the credil 10 which the authorship makes clear. However, in the lwo personal o pe ning paragraphs. the first person singular pronoun is used to refer to
the first autho r.
2. An entertaining theological lecture o n the shift from burial to crematio n in England is
en titled "From Dust lo Ashes'' (Jupp 1990).
3. la che wonderfu l Dr. Seuss slo ry I-lorron Hears a Who! (Geisel 1954), Horton the elephan l
discovers a world of inhabitants (the Whos) living o n a speck o f d usl. ll becomes his sacred duty 10
p ro tect these dust mo te dwellers from harm by thosc who eanno t see (or hear) them .
4. E ven today a humorist can call for a war on dus1: noiing " [ don 't know a nybody who likes
dusl. 1 can't think o f any rcd eeming qualities thal dust has except fo r heing part o f sorne dumb
cliches such as bite thc dust' and ' the dust is beginning to settle.' lt 's no t fun 10 play with . il's no t
interesting. il's 1101 acst hctiea lly pleasing lo look at and it serves 110 fu nc1io11 excepl it causes
aggravation" (Li11d 2000. p. E l ). Dust receives 110 respect.
5. Dusl in spon cvcnls con lri butes to the excitemenl and lhc u11ccnain1y o f thc game. as in the
case o f the baseball player who slides inlo ho me platc in a clo ud o f dusl. The dust ser ves as a curtain o f s urprise that s uggests the au lhcnlicity and u11prcdictability of the game.
6. Resea rch into chemica l and biological warfare re lects wha l mig ht be te rmed the weapo n izatio n of dust." Pcrhaps it is o u r inability 10 dcal with the mini cule that ma kes thesc weapons.
mo re than bombs and mines. sources o r inte nse public fcar.

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