From Sociology of Innovation to Sociological Imagination. Field Theory Encountering Nursing Profession
If one follows Saussure’s perspective, according to which the angle creates the object, for a sociological issue to be “novel” requires at least as much a renewal of approach than an “intrinsic novelty” of the topic. In this article, we prefer this first track of innovation, by examining an old issue by an old approach. Against a tendency towards the fragmentation of the discipline into small specialisations, we demonstrate the heuristic value of considering a profession as a social space which takes its meaning only when related to the broader field in which it takes part. Largely feminised and partially dominated, the profession of nursing is analysed by a theory which is normally used to study male and dominating groups: the theory of fields of Pierre Bourdieu.