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The Politics of Nursing Care

Correcting Deviance in Accordance with the Social Contract

University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Dave Holmes, PhD, RN

University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Despite numerous theories, models, and philosophies describing what nurses are and what they do, nursing care is often presented as an apolitical process which primarily focuses on patient needs and priorities. However, it is our position that nursing practice—in all regards—is political. To support this argument, we have drawn on works describing of soft/hard power, pastoral power, stigma, deviance, and governmentality, in addition to explaining our institutional social contract conceptualization of politics. In using these concepts, our political perspective reframes nursing practice as a means by which an individual’s potential or actual deviance (meaning a deviation from social norms) can be identified and then corrected.

Key Words: deviance • nursing • politics • power • social contract

This version was published on May 1, 2009

Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, Vol. 10, No. 2, 153-162 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1527154409344347


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