title: The politics of nursing care: correcting deviance in accordance with the social contract.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Byrne
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D011057:Politics; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012941:Social Responsibility