Chapter 37: Introduction to the sociological context of nursing

Activity 37.1: Social life

You will have chosen your own area to examine for this activity but the following is offered as an example:

In relation to health care we might ask:

  • What is the aim of healthcare provided by the state?
  • What should be the aim?
  • Why is the health service structured in the way it is?
  • Why are nurses the largest professional group within the health service but have traditionally lacked power?
  • Who should decide how the health service is run?
  • Who makes the key decisions in the health service?

Activity 37.2: Examples of sociological theories/perspectives

Again you will have chosen your own perspective for this exercise but the following is offered as an example:

Feminism

  • It can help us to understand the gendered nature of care that can impact both on the role of nurses and on the informal carers that nurses may support.
  • It can alert us to the ways in which power is often exercised within the family and within wider society.
  • It can encourage us to question existing structures both within healthcare and more widely and also to challenge their legitimacy.