In her doctoral thesis Katja Bürger examines collective bargaining conflicts of care workers in German hospitals. Using the example of a collective bargaining initiative, she analyses perspectives on agency within a feminized field of work. The empirical basis of the thesis consists of narrative interviews with care workers and union officials. To analyze the interviews, the method of narrative emotion analysis is employed, which highlights the interrelation between emotions and narratives. The central argument of the study is that union agency cannot solely be explained by the distribution of power resources. Instead, it emerges from the affects that arise and circulate within the work process. Affects are shaped by power relations: they can stabilize existing orders—such as processes of economization—but they can also exceed these orders and form the basis for emancipatory action. To explore these dynamics, the concept of affective agency is developed with reference to debates on the emotional and affective turn. This concept is used to analyze processes of self-empowerment and the associated collectivization of feelings among nurses. Drawing on queer-feminist theories, the study emphasizes that in particular emotions with negative connotations, hold political potential. The study thus contributes to problematizing the paradigm of rationality—and the gendered assumptions embedded within key approaches to understanding trade union power. In addition, the analysis offers insights into the significance of affect for collective interest-based action in a field of commodified care work.
Selected contributions
Chmilewski, K. (2022). Deborah B. Gould: Moving Politics. Emotion and ACT UP’s fight against AIDS. In K. Senge, R. Schützeichel, V. Zink (eds.), Hauptwerke der Emotionssoziologie (pp. 231-237). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37869-1_26
Letzte Änderung: 26. March 2026