‘That is My Profession’: occupational culture and occupational identities of seafarers in the global merchant fleet.

Against the specific structural background of globalized shipping as a largely globalised industry which is strongly characterised by strict hierarchies and an authoritarian management style as well as ethnic segmentation and a pronounced male dominance of the workforce, I ask in this ethnographic dissertation about the construction of occupational identities and the corresponding boundary-work of seafarers on internationally crewed merchant ships. Concrete questions are: How do seafarers establish their occupational identity through boundary-work in everyday interactions? How are inclusions and exclusions negotiated with regard to membership of the practice community? What is the significance of cultural representations of the professional image of seafarers and other public discourses?Which intersectionalities with other identitarian attributions such as nationality, gender, class, etc. are important in this context? What role do the specific traditional organisational structures of the industry play in these identity constructions and boundary processes? I follow a theoretical framework which is formed by theories of the interactive negotiation of identities in the sense of the boundary-approach, as represented by Michèle Lamont and Andreas Wimmer.
The present dissertation contributes new perspectives to the research on occupational culture in globalised shipping. Firstly, I was able to show, in favour of a process-based approach, that previous studies which set 'culture' as a given external 'factor' and only examine its effects on occupational culture fall short. Secondly, I have extended the debate about the ship as a "social place" (total institution, heterotopia, hyperspace) by a critical postcolonial perspective. Thirdly, I take up the question posed by Heide Gerstenberger and Ulrich Welke about the existence of a "transnational occupational culture" and come to conclusions that extend their findings by new perspectives.

In terms of labour force, the shipping industry is characterised by a largely globalised labour market for seafarers, with international power relations in the world system being reflected in the organisational hierarchy on board ships. Another characteristic feature of this field is the traditionally very pronounced male dominance in maritime occupations. In addition, the field is characterised by particularly strict organisational hierarchies compared to other jobs and the survival of a bureaucratic management style that is considered to have been overcome according to the prevailing management discourse.
Against this structural background, my dissertation investigates the construction of professional identities and the corresponding boundary-work of seafarers on internationally crewed merchant ships. Concrete questions are: How do seafarers and their identity constructions situate themselves in the cultural context of the ship's crew or industry? What is the significance of cultural representations of the professional image of seafarers and other public discourses? How do seafarers establish their occupational identity through boundary-work in everyday interactions? How are inclusions and exclusions negotiated with regard to membership of the practice community? Which intersectionalities with other identity attributions such as nationality, gender, class, etc. are important in this context? What role do the specific traditional organisational structures of the industry play in these identity constructions and boundary processes?
I was able to gather the empirical material for working on the research questions in a participating observation of seven weeks on a container ship with an international crew. In addition, I rely on earlier (auto-ethnographic) observations that I made as part of the field during my training as a nautical officer and my subsequent professional activities in the industry, as well as on interviews with seafarers on board and ashore. I accompanied the analysis of my material by regular participation in an ethnopsychoanalytical interpretation group.
The theoretical framework is formed by theories of the interactive negotiation of identities in the sense of the boundary-approach, as represented by Michèle Lamont and Andreas Wimmer. This theoretical approach has, first of all, the advantage over the ethnomethodological approaches of "doing difference" (West, Fenstermaker et al.) of overcoming their occasionalism considering the significance of macro structures. Secondly, the boundary-work approach is linked to a processual concept of culture (Martin Fuchs, Andreas Wimmer) which is able to overcome the weaknesses of a statically reductive classical concept of culture, such as the one that underlies current approaches to "intercultural management".
The present dissertation contributes new perspectives to the research on occupational culture in globalised shipping. Firstly, I was able to show, in favour of a process-based approach, that previous studies which set 'culture' as a given external 'factor' and only examine its effects on occupational culture fall short. Secondly, I have extended the debate about the ship as a "social place" (total institution, heterotopia, hyperspace) by a critical postcolonial perspective. Thirdly, I take up the question posed by Heide Gerstenberger and Ulrich Welke about the existence of a "transnational occupational culture" and come to conclusions that extend their findings by new perspectives.