Caring moments and their men: masculine emotion practice in nursing^*

* My title is a variation on Goffman’s admonishment that sociology study ‘moments and their men’ rather than ‘men and their moments’ (1967, p. 3). Admittedly, this title is a bit misleading in that it is Bourdieu’s theory of social practice that I draw on most heavily. Despite this, I think it well encapsulates the main theoretical contribution of this article, which is to examine the evolving fit between environment (as moments) and self that habitus, capital, and practice highlight within Bourdieu’s framework.

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant pseudonyms and demographics.

Pseudonym	Race	Age at interview	Years of experience	Sexuality
1. Jerry	White	43	1	Heterosexual
2. Andrew	White	31	1	Heterosexual
3. Thomas	White	34	3	Heterosexual
4. Walter	White	49	17	Heterosexual
5. Manny	White	50	24	Heterosexual
6. Justin	White	39	7	Heterosexual
7. John	White	46	25	Heterosexual
8. Richard	Black	51	30	Pansexual
9. Carson	Hispanic	28	3	Heterosexual
10. Derrick	White	49	8	Heterosexual
11. Brandon	White	28	1	Heterosexual
12. Sam	White	39	14	Heterosexual
13. Carl	White	52	16	Bisexual
14. Ron	White	38	3	Heterosexual
15. Doug	Latino	67	39	Heterosexual
16. Jason	White	29	8	Heterosexual
17. Ben	White	33	3	Heterosexual
18. Alex	White	53	10	Heterosexual
19. Ethan	White	44	3	Gay
20. Max	Other	32	2	Heterosexual
21. Art	Hispanic	35	11	Gay
22. Dylan	White	48	25	Gay
23. Mason	White	59	22	Heterosexual
24. Victor	White	58	36	Heterosexual
25. Hank	White	–	–	Heterosexual
26. Vince	White	52	28	Gay
27. Jared	White	50	1	Heterosexual
28. Donnie	White	62	35	Heterosexual
29. Ed	White	58	35	Heterosexual
30. Connor^a	White	30	5	Heterosexual
31. Leonard^a	White	28	5	Gay
32. Russell^a	White	46	6	Heterosexual
33. Jack^b	White	51	16	Heterosexual
34. Travis^b	White	51	8	Heterosexual
35. Pat^b	White	48	13	Heterosexual
36. Emmanuel^b	White	38	12	Heterosexual
37. Collin^a	White	48	4	Heterosexual
38. Frank^a	White	40	6	Heterosexual
39. August^b	White	39	14	Heterosexual
40. Jerome^a	Black	24	–	Heterosexual
Mean		44	13

^aDiary and interview data.

^bDiary data only.