%0 Journal Article
%T Obstacles to NursesĄŻ Labor Militancy in Central America: Toward a Framework for Cross
%A Lisa Kowalchuk
%J Labor Studies Journal
%@ 1538-9758
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0160449X17733106
%X This paper seeks to understand the low level of nursesĄŻ labor militancy in El Salvador and Nicaragua compared with many other countries. Key to the analysis is the concept of oppositional consciousness, which was developed for the study of how oppressed groups convert anger over unjust treatment into vocal and even disruptive demands for change. I use data collected through interviews and focus groups to argue that while nurses in El Salvador and Nicaragua face many of the same hindrances to militancy seen elsewhere, they are more exposed to cultural and institutional forces that discourage a contestational stance. Chief among these are the influence of religion in nursesĄŻ schooling and socialization, and nursesĄŻ lack of experience with unions specific to their occupation. The latter owes, in turn, to particular historical and political factors in each country
%K nurses
%K labor militancy
%K unions
%K Central America
%K gender
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0160449X17733106