Collective Mobilization in Hospitals: Confrontational or Consensual?

Résumé 0

This article focuses on labour relations in hospitals, the claim being that collective mobilization in this sector is not just a matter of protest but may also involve consensual efforts to improve conditions. To demonstrate this, types of protest movements in the hospital sector are reviewed and hypotheses put forward to explain the empirical rarity of such movements in the sector in France. Subaltern status (in terms of class, gender, etc.) is not sufficient to explain the moderation of conflicts in the sector. The symbolic “public service” and practical “care” dimensions, both relevant to the public hospital framework, play an ambivalent role. An examination of organizational contexts leads to the development of an explanation of the “silence” of hospital nurses by identifying modes and conditions characterizing what I call a “consensual” mobilization dynamic: intense cooperation in some units, participant campaigns to improve care quality, interprofessional coordination on ad hoc projects, and the influence of practical representations produced by earlier (consensual) mobilizations. These fundamental components of healthcare contribute to creating a profound adherence to a profession that is both demanding and valuable, even though local responsibilities of this sort only raise the same question concerning the boundaries for action by caregivers in hospitals at a more general level.