Rhetorics of division: miners' narrative sense of 'self' and 'other' during performance appraisal at an underground coalmine

Underground coal mining has long been perceived - both by the public and the people who do the work - as a unique occupation. Since Orwell's day, mining has been reshaped by the introduction of mechanised coal extraction and the ongoing incorporation of this occupation into large organisations within multinational corporations. To date, neither development has alleviated the perennial personnel problem in the mines - how to control the activities of people who work underground, far from the gaze of managers.