Why teachsociology? A contribution to the debate

This paper seeks to engage in the debateabout the role of sociology in nurse education that has been conducted in the pages of Nurse Education Today by Hannah Cooke 1993 and Keith Sharp 1995. Cookeʹs paper is addressed first. It is argued that in her application to nursing of Foucauldian notions of power, Cooke inflates the salience of power to the development of holistic care. In doing do, she diverts her argument away from the central problematic of her paper, namely her identification of critical structural approaches as being essential to nursing sociology. Cookeʹs conclusions on this issue are defended against the attack made upon them by Sharp. First, it is contended that Sharpʹs argument that the multiparadigmatic nature of sociology means that it cannot act as a guide for nurses is self-contradictory. Second, it is argued that his characterization of nursing work as essentially instrumental is misguided, in that the prosecution of holistic care entails a more reflexive form of action. Finally, it is posited that his interpretation of Cookeʹs perspective as narrow political vision is unsustainable.