Rising Demand and Distress in Emergency Care: A Sociological Perspective

As emergency departments and ambulance services face rising demand, a considerable share of patients present with needs deemed “non-urgent”, generating strain, frustration and moral judgement across care systems. The first of its kind to apply Bourdieusian field theory to emergency care, this book analyses how changing classificatory practices reshape professional boundaries, expectations of care and notions of legitimate urgency. Using an in-depth case study of emergency care services in a German city, the book reveals emergency care as a contested social field in which struggles over meaning, authority and moral worth occur and reproduce institutional inequalities. Moving beyond debates on workload and safety, this book reveals the broader social and institutional implications of rising demand in emergency care.