Learning to be: The training and education industry for allied health care workers in New York City.
Item
-
Title
-
Learning to be: The training and education industry for allied health care workers in New York City.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3127862
-
identifier
-
3127862
-
Creator
-
Ducey, Ariel.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Patricia Clough
-
Date
-
2004
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations | Education, Vocational | Health Sciences, Education
-
Abstract
-
In this dissertation, I examine the significance of a multimillion-dollar training and education industry for allied health care workers, which emerged in New York City during the mid-1990s. Based on an analysis of in-depth interviews and fieldwork with health care workers and trainers, I argue that the industry's reach and tenacity cannot be solely, or even largely, attributed to its production of appropriately qualified workers, whether in terms of skills, credentials, or attitudes and ideology. In fact, the industry is indifferent, in important ways, to such instrumental outcomes, and I show its most salient feature is its participation in an affective register, a register of engagement and emotional energy that is distinct from skills, ideology, and specific emotions. This finding is the basis for a discussion of how affect articulates with extant notions of economy and value in sociology and its importance for understanding emergent forms of work, education and inequality. Major features of this training and education industry that I analyze include: the role of state and federal financing; the importance of joint labor-management training initiatives and the promise of mobility to contemporary labor unions (in this case 1199 SEIU); the problematic emphasis on "soft skills" and customer service training; and the impact of training opportunities on the career "choices" of health care workers and their patterns of engagement with education. I have documented an industry in which education is largely a benefit of paid employment, not a social right, and conclude by discussing how the training and education industry for allied health care workers may be indicative of larger trends, as learning becomes a lifelong, privatized endeavor.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
