As stated in the introduction, the object of this paper is to describe and discern the

influence of income of janitors on their self-esteem (i.e. self-respect), and their identities in
society as a whole. Before proceeding to the methods of this study, understanding must be
acquired on these concepts and their theoretical connections.
Identity, based on the work of Erik Erikson, can be divided into multiple categories. The
first, involving ego-identity, is defined as a deep personality structure, which performs the
supervisory, control and evaluation functions in order to preserve the self-identity, continuity and
integrity of an individual under the conditions of systemic changes of the personality structure
and social situation of its development within normative crises (Soldatova & Shlyapnikova,
2013). The second is personal identity, or the personal idiosyncrasies that distinguish one
person from another, which is determined by a successful establishment of ego-identity. The
third, and last, is the social or cultural identity, which is the collection of social roles that a
person might play (Erikson Stages of Development Learning Theories, n.d.).
In the relevance of history concerning the social role of a janitor, the perception is
usually negative. Even if the world is currently appreciating cross cultural exchanges and a
relaxation of stereotypes due to globalization and a reliance of objective information, certain
jobs or roles will never completely lose the social stigma acquired over millennia. Examples will
include the shudras or untouchables in India, who are associated with impurity and shunned
due to their jobs involving cleaning or waste removal (Kutsenkov, 1986). Parallels were
experienced in Japan in the form of the burakumin or eta who had virtually similar roles with
shudras, as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica. In the feudal society of Europe, cleaning duty
was given only to those on the lowest rung of the social ladder: peasants or criminals (Bloch,
1961). Thus, one can see that removal of waste and dirt was an unwanted task usually
assigned to the marginalized sectors of society.
Returning to the concept of identity, Erikson described its formation as a life-long task of
ultimately finding a meaningful sense of self, which concurs with Marcias discernment of a
need for commitment to an ideal or belief, and relevant to this case, an occupation. Erikson
theorizes this as Psychosocial Development; a process of stages with inherent conflicts which
are aimed to be surpassed in order to bring about mastery or ego strength/quality, thus bringing
about personal growth (Cherry, n.d.). However, negative feelings and doubts (i.e. negative
stigma around certain roles) often hinder ego quality, and therefore the complete development
of identity. Affected persons will experience latent consequences such as a lack of a clearly
defined sense of purpose and structure in their daily lives. They will also miss participation in
goals and purposes beyond themselves, and recognition by a significant reference group for
personal status and accomplishments (Basak & Gosh, 2008). This is where the next concept,
self-esteem, comes in, to either aid or further degrade the feelings of ego strength and the
development of a healthy identity.
Technically, self-esteem is both a goal and a means in the area of identity development
because people with low self-esteem, those struggling with personality problems and social
scorn, wish for high self-esteem or a meaningful sense of self, which is utilized to further goals
and aspirations. As stated by DeMarree and Rios (2014):

Self-esteem is strongly related to self-clarity, with people higher in self-esteem reporting

more clear self-views. The most common measure of self clarity, the self-concept clarity scale,
is in turn associated with a variety of important consequences, including reducedsymptoms of
depression and eating disorders; better educational consequences; and a reduced likelihood of
responding to an ego threat with anger and aggression. Because of these meaningful
consequences, it is important to understand the antecedents of self-clarity. Campbell (1990)
discussed two possible reasons why people high in self-esteem generally have higher clarity
than people low in self-esteem. First, because people are motivated to seek both positive
information about themselves and information that is consistent with their preexisting selfconcepts, people low in self-esteem will likely seek both positive and negative (i.e., reflecting a
bias to be consistent with their low self-esteem) self-relevant information. This results in an
unclear, evaluatively incongruent self-concept. Second, the opposite causal path might hold
low clarity could render people more open to potential negative self-relevant information,
decreasing their overall level of self-esteem.
The clarity achieved by high self-esteem prunes away hesitancy and doubts and allows
realistic commitments to be formed and kept. This in turn allows greater ego strength and
personal growth.
Self-esteem or self-views are also important determinants on how people think feel and
behave (Demarree & Rios, 2014), Goldsmith, et al. (1996) asserts that:
Opinions about 'self' are the most treasured of all of our opinions and a key aspect of
personality. Psychologists treat self-esteem as multidimensional, comprising notions of worth,
goodness, health, appearance, skills, and social competence. Deficits in one area can be
overcome by strengths in another. High self-esteem expresses the feeling that one is 'good
enough,' a 'person of worth'. Psychologists also envision self-esteem to be a stable and
enduring property of the individual, shaped during childhood.
Accordingly, low self-esteem has been associated with a number of psychological,
physical, and social consequences that may influence identity development, including
depression, anxiety, suicide, and disordered eating, violent behavior, earlier initiation of sexual
activity (in girls), and substance use. Causes for these are listed as: older age, nontraditional
family structure, special health care needs, parental aggravation, family stress, and low
socioeconomic factor (McClure et al., 2010).
This brings us to the relation between income and self esteem. Recent research in
economics suggests a positive association between self-esteem and earnings. From the
theoretical point of view, the basic mechanism by which self-esteem may increase earnings is
very simple. Ability and effort are complements, so that, under the premise that individuals are
uncertain about their own ability, higher self-esteem causes greater effort and earnings. The
happiness and optimism wrought by high self-esteem cause good attitudes toward the work to
materialize as well as stable mental health and character. Aside from this effect being persistent,
the effect goes both ways as individual market outcomes (e.g. wages, promotions) impact selfimage. This is because quantifiable markers such as income can provide a visible scale to

measure ones active and latent abilities. Ones locus control on wages positively influences
psychological capital, which means higher self-esteem (Drago, 2011).

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