Candace Petty
Sociology 1010
Sociological Imagination
INTRO
“You’re a ten!” Those three little words have different meanings to different individuals or
groups. Most Americans who were old enough in 1979 might immediately think of Bo Derek
movie “10”. Most people who know anything about that movie
and the
would recognize the comment refers to sexual attractiveness. In most cultures, norms of sexual
attractiveness focus more on physical looks for women than for men (Giddens, Duneier,
Appelbaum & Carr, 2011, p. 422). In my cohort, as a labor and delivery nurse, telling a women
she is a ten still ensures feelings of self esteem and success. But it also brings feelings of anxiety
and anticipation. For personel in Labor and Delivery it starts a cascade of adrenaline that lasts
until a pink and crying baby is in their mothers arms, and we ARE adrenaline junkies! For a
“10” in labor and delivery means the cervix is 10cm dilated, and it’s birthday party time! I
belong to an awesome group of people who work in labor and delivery. I will show how we rely
on symbolic interactionism in our everyday job and give examples of gender, stratification, race
and ethnicity.
DESCRIPTION OF HOW I GOT TO L&D
My brother married Marilyn when I was 7 years old. She was a nurse and I was
infatuated. I would listen to her stories with wide eyes and imagination. I would ask her
questions whenever she was around, and craved hearing more about what she did at work. I
remember her asking me if I thought I wanted to be a nurse someday. “Yes! Yes I do!” And
from that day forward, the frequently asked question of what do you want to be when you grow
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up, was easy for me to answer. I focused on science classes through high school and declared
nursing as my major in college. My class was unusually small in the summer of 1986. It was
my first exposure to the diversity of nursing. We had about a 2:1 ratio of female to males in that
class. We started with only 11 in the class and so we knew each other well. I received a
certificate of nursing and was lucky enough to get a job at a local hospital on the maternity floor.
I continued with college and got my ASN in 1988. I loved my job, but didn’t love college and so
I stopped with the asssociate degree and plowed into learning my job. We were a close knit crew
on maternity and I made true friendships. But after nine years I found myself getting bored and
loosing my passion for my job. At that time I was offered a position on the Labor and
Delivery(L&D) unit and I took it with gusto! THAT was my dream job. And I’ve never looked
back.
L&D NORMS
L&D hosts a variety of team players. The Hospital Unit Clerk(HUC) who keeps the unit
organized. The Patient Care Assistants(PCA’s) who have to do a lot of the dirty work…and
believe me, it gets dirty. The physicians who are medically incharge of the patient. And the
nurses, who are ACTUALLY in charge of the patient. Sprinkle in med students and nursing
students. A pharmacist, nurse manager and receptionist and you have a functioning L&D unit.
L&D nurses have to earn the trust of the medical doctors (MD’s). That means if a nurse says I
need you now…she wants you at the patients bedside a minute ago. One of the enticements
about being a L&D nurse is once you earn that trust, you have a great deal of autonomy. That
trust is a norm on L&D if you have at least a years experience and/or are not afraid to ask
questions. The culture of the unit also includes short phrases of speech that signify whats
happening. If someone says “I have a funky tracing” or “a naughty baby,” they are refering to
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the fetal heart tracing and what is happening out of the ordinary. We have small walkie talkies
called Voceras we use. If we ordered lunch on a busy day we call a “code L” over the vocera.
Or with the simple words “I have a cord down,” the entire team knows this is a emergent
situation and kicks into high gear in their assigned roles. Our normal attire is green scrubs, so
everyone breaks the norm in their own way with their shoe choices.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM IN L&D
Symbolic interactionism, is a major framework of sociological theory. This perspective
relies on the symbolic meaning that people learn and use in the process of social interaction. The
American philosopher George Herbert Mead introduced this perspective to American sociology
in the 1920s. Mead placed great importance on the study of language in analyzing the social
world. Symbolic interaction theory analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that
people assign to objects, events, and behaviors. Subjective meanings are given primarily because
it is believed that people behave based on what they believe and not just on what is objectively
true. Thus, society is thought to be socially constructed through human interpretation. People
interpret one another’s behavior and it is these interpretations that form the social bond. When
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we interact with others we watch for clues to determine what type of reaction is appropriate.
(http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Symbolic-Interaction-Theory.htm)
APPLICATION OF INTERACTION IN L&D
We rely on these symbols and clues in Labor and Delivery as we assess patients. A
patient presenting at our greeter desk who is crying, or breathing hard and rapid is signaling to
us, “I am in labor! Help me!” Whereas a giddy and smiling Mom who laughs as she says “I
think I’m in labor,” is usually a sign we will be sending her home in an hour. Symbolic
interaction is a strong force in order for us to efficiently do our job. We watch for clues in
patients’ facial expressions and have them describe their pain by using a numeric scale. It is
interesting to see patients rate their pain as a ten (like getting your arm cut off kind of pain) but
they are texting and laughing and conversing. It appears they believe if they say their pain is a
ten, then it must be real labor, when in fact, we have to measure real labor by other means. As
mentioned previously we also use word phrases to indicate without a complete explanation, what
is happening and if it requires immediate attention. The majority of our symbols are well
establish in L&D’s throughout the US. Meaning where ever you work, most of the unwritten
lingo is very much understood. We also make assumptions based on experience. If we have a
teenage mom come in to deliver we assume, because of previous experiences, that she will need
an increased amount of support and explanations. We expect her to have an entourage of her
teenage support system (friends) close by. And we gear up for immature interactions with staff.
Sometimes we are pleasantly surprised when she proves us wrong with maturity. We also
witness this symbolic interaction when young visitors call the nurses and PCA’s “doctor”
because we are all wearing green scrubs. Or our resident doctors get resistance from patients
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because doctors can’t look that young.
STRATIFICATION, GENDER & AGE
Gender and age are related on our L&D unit. All of our nurses are female. We have one
male PCA and nine females. The relation between gender and age lies with the obstetricians.
The only male obstetricians on our unit are all over 40 years old and most are over 50. We have
witnessed a trend in our seven years of operation of a decreasing amount of male doctors
choosing obstetrics. I believe this is true because there is an increasing amount of women
preferring a female provider (MD or midwife.) And the Muslim population of parents demand
only female providers. But we do witness gender bias with our male PCA. It is acceptable for a
male doctor to do a vaginal exam, but not tolerated for our male PCA to place a urinary catheter.
Our group ranges in age from 20 to 66, and the group follows stratification almost succinctly
with age. The youngest in our group are typically also in the lowest socioeconomic status (SES).
Typically this part of the group are made up of our PCA’s, many of whom are poor college
students. The eldest of our group happens to be an anesthesiologist who makes A LOT of
money, and has achieved a higher SES. Our nurses are scattered through that age range and all
fall within the lower middle class. We do see a hierarchy within the nurses also. We have the
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orients at the bottom, the nurses, the charge nurses and the nurse managers at the top. Although
all hard working nurses, we are ranked differently through our pay scale.
CONCLUSION
I have a strong sense of pride being a member of my Labor and Delivery unit. We are
made up of doctors, nurses, patient care assistants, hospital unit clerks and other support staff.
We often use our own language in order to both survive and be efficient. We utilize symbolic
interaction primarily in our evaluation of patients, but it also can be found in patients and visitors
evaluation of us. We are made up of 100% white, female nurses ranging in age from 24-65. Our
PCA crew is primarily white females, and one white male. And our doctors have a stronger mix
of Indian, Asian and white males and females, with the norm shifting to females. We all have a
common goal and work effectively as individuals and teammates. Our goal is to make the
birthing experience, a good experience, in both high risk and uncomplicated situations. It’s a
job, but it has higher payouts than monetary. We get to see miracles happen every day!
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References
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R., & Carr, D. (2011). Essentials of Sociology (3rd ed.). New
York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Crossman, A. (n.d.). What Is Symbolic Interaction Theory? Retrieved December 7, 2014.
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