Alienation from Work: A Study of Nursing Personnel

Alienation, defined as subjectively experienced powerlessness to control one's own work activities, is examined among the nursing force of a large mental hospital. It is found that alienation is intensified where authority relations are such as to limit the reciprocal influence of subordinates. This is reflected in situations where there is great positional disparity between superordinates and their subjects, where authority is exercised in a peremptory fashion and where authority figures are physically inaccessible. Career experiences within the hospital opportunity structure are also related to alienation; limited achievement and dissatisfaction with extrinsic work rewards are alienative conditions. Finally, personnel working in isolation and without outside social ties to fellow workers are more subject to intense alienation.