Tales of sociology and the nursing curriculum: Revisiting the debates

SummaryThe relationship between nursing and sociology has been extensively debated for more than two decades [Cox, C.A., 1979. Who cares? Nursing and sociology: the development of a symbiotic relationship. Journal of Advanced Nursing 4, 237–252; Cooke, H., 1993. Why teach sociology? Nurse Education Today 13, (3) 210–216; Sharpe, K., 1994. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a note of caution. Journal of Advanced Nursing 20, (2) 391–395; Sharpe, K., 1995. Why indeed should we teach sociology? A response to Hannah Cooke. Nurse Education Today 15, (1) 52–55; Sharpe, K., 1996. Feedback – sociology and the nursing curriculum: a reply to Sam Porter. Journal of Advanced Nursing 23, (7) 1275–1278; Balsamo and Martin, 1995a and Balsamo and Martin, 1995b Developing the sociology of health in nurse education: towards a more critical curriculum. Part 2. Linking methodology and epistemology. Nurse Education Today 15, 427–432; Porter, S., 1995. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a defence. Journal of Advanced Nursing 21, (6) 1130–1135; Porter, S., 1996. Why teach sociology? A contribution to the debate. Nurse Education Today, 16, 170–174; Porter, S., 1997. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a further comment. Journal of Advanced Nursing 26, (1) 214–218; Porter, S., 1998. Social Theory and Nursing Practice. Macmillan, Basingstoke; Corlett, J., 2000. The perceptions of nurse teacher, student nurses and preceptors of the theory–practice gap in nurse education. Nurse Education Today 20, 499–505; Allen, D., 2001. Review article: nursing and sociology: an uneasy marriage?. Sociology of Health and Illness 23, (3) 386–396; Pinikahana, J., 2003. Role of sociology within the nursing enterprise: some reflections on the unfinished debate. Nursing and health Sciences 5, (2) 175–180; Holland, K., 2004. Sociology and the nursing curriculum; editorial. Nurse Education in Practice 4, 81–82; Mowforth, G., Harrison, J., Morris, M., 2005. An investigation into adult nursing students’ experience of the relevance and application of behavioural sciences (biology, psychology and sociology) across two different curricula. Nurse Education Today 25, 41–48]. Much attention has been given to the role, utility and value of sociology mostly within pre-registration but also post-registration nursing curricula. Through an initial analysis of a series of letters appearing in The Nursing Times over a 12 week period in 2004, and using an analytical framework of four tales (realist, critical, deconstructive and reflexive) we revisit this relationship. Unlike previous debates our argument is that this relationship is more usefully viewed as emblematic of the legitimation crisis inherent in all modern projects. We argue that in order to move beyond the ‘utility’ discussion, an interrogation of the knowledge claims of both nursing and sociology is required.