Marginalization revisited: critical, postmodern, and liberation perspectives

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Sociology
• Philosophy

Background:

• Marginalization, introduced by Hall, Stevens, and Meleis in 1994, is a concept for valuing diversity in knowledge development.
• The original conceptualization detailed properties, risks, and resilience associated with marginalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reexamine the sociopolitical usefulness of marginalization in nursing.
• To update the conceptualization of marginalization by proposing additional properties.
• To explore the effects of Eurocentric capitalism on marginalized populations within the nursing context.

Main Methods:

• Critical theory, postmodern, and liberation philosophy perspectives were used to reexamine marginalization.
• Additional properties such as exteriority, Eurocentrism, constraint, economics, seduction, testimony, and hope were proposed.
• The study explored the effects of Eurocentric capitalism on marginalized people.

Main Results:

• The conceptualization of marginalization was updated with new properties.
• The pervasive effects of Eurocentric capitalism on marginalized individuals were explored.
• Sociopolitical implications for nursing were identified.

Conclusions:

• Nursing requires interdisciplinary dialogue on the ethics of promoting Eurocentrism in education and practice.
• Integrated economic analyses are necessary for understanding all aspects of life and health.
• Updated conceptualization of marginalization offers enhanced sociopolitical usefulness for nursing knowledge development.