Markus Helfen is Senior Research Fellow in the Hertie School as well as a Private Lecturer at Freie Universität, Germany.Rick Delbridge is Professor of Organizational Analysis at Cardiff Business School and Co-Convenor of the Centre for Innovation Policy Research, Cardiff University, UK.Andreas (Andi) Pekarek is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Gretchen Purser is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, USA.

• Chapter 1. Essential Work, Inessential Workers?; Markus Helfen, Rick Delbridge, Andreas (Andi) Pekarek, and Gretchen PurserChapter 2. Doing Essential ‘Dirty Work’: Making Visible the Emotion Management Skills in Gendered Care Work; Anna Milena Galazka and Sarah JenkinsChapter 3. Defining Essential: How Custodial Labor Became Synonymous With Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Annie J. MurphyChapter 4. Fear and Professionalism on the Front Line: Emotion Management of Residential Care Workers Through the Lens of COVID-19 as a ‘Breaching Experiment’; Valeria Pulignano, Mê-Linh Riemann, Carol Stephenson, and Markieta DomeckaChapter 5. The Politics of Essentiality: Praise for Dirty Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Nancy Côté, Jean-Louis Denis, Steven Therrien, and Flavia Sofia CiafreChapter 6. Essential Workers in the United States: An Intersectional Perspective; Caroline Hanley and Enobong Hannah BranchA Note From the Editors: Introducing the “Spotlight on Ethnography”Chapter 7. Floral Ethics and Aesthetics: Understanding Professional Expertise at Work; Isabelle ZinnChapter 8. Ethnographic Studies of Essential Work: Jana Costas’ ‘Dramas of Dignity’ and Peter Birke’s ‘Grenzen Aus Glas’ as Two German Exemplars; Markus HelfenChapter 9. “More Than a Slight Ache:” On the Ethnographic Sensibility and Enduring Relevance of Studs Terkel’s Working; Gretchen Purser