We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Burnout: from metaphor to ideology.
- Authors
Walker, Gillian A.
- Abstract
The significance of an inquiry into the process of transformation which is the focus of the paper lies in the recognition that the term burnout provides an instance of what has been called conceptual imperialism. Conceptual imperialism refers to the practice whereby new issues and concerns are embraced by professionals, researchers, and social scientists in general, and brought within the realm of the discourse, that is, the field of an academic discipline empowered to define, theorize and prescribe a particular area of knowledge. Burnout as a concept both describes a condition of cynicism, depletion and withdrawal readily identified by many professionals and provides for an array of solutions such as stress management training, improvement of managerial practices and the provision of organizational supports for beleaguered sufferers. An examination of the concept as it functions to organize the phenomenon it names, and to provide for action, reveals it to be ideological. It can be seen to limit and proscribe our understanding of the impact of the current restructuring of capitalist forms and the implications of this for professional and occupational work organization and processes.
- Subjects
PROFESSIONAL employees; STRESS management; IMPERIALISM; HEALTH; CAPITALISM; POLITICAL science
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1986, Vol 11, Issue 1, p35
- ISSN
0318-6431
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3340447