ABSTRACT
Here we try to lodge the analysis and understanding of emotions and emotional behaviour in changing organizational contexts as a beginning move to a more dynamic sociology of emotions. To examine this we review the current situation of professional nursing in the United States. Like many other providers in the American health care system, nurses face increasing rationalization of organizational contexts (hospitals, clinics, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), hospices) as the system struggles to become more cost-efficient. Early dismissal of patients, larger workloads, substitution of other personnel for nurses, all figure in the costconsciousscenario. Because expression of emotions is thought to be significantly
embedded in the work of nursing care and nurses’ professional orientation, this trend creates the potential for tension between structural demands for efficiency and the expression of emotion. This is particularly intriguing, if one accepts the view of some nurses that emotional work is central to care and the nurse’s professional identity.
