Two general explanations have been used by sociologists to account for the increase in industrial conflict involving nurses. The first focuses on changes in the organization of nursing work and argues that the profession has undergone a process of proletarianization. The second emphasizes changes in sex roles and gender ideologies among women. Both explanations argue that these historical developments are reflected in existing inequalities among nurses and that these inequalities are linked with industrial militancy. This article reviews these explanations and empirically evaluates the second in a study of hospital nurses. The results indicate support for the gender explanation. The implications of the findings are then related to the position of nursing in the medical division of labor.
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