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Globalization is often seen as the final stage in the transition towards a market economy. It is argued that a side-effect of globalization is cultural homogeneity and loss of life world, or ‘McDonaldization’. McDonaldization represents the rationalization of society in the quest for extreme efficiency. More recently, Meštrović has argued that the rationalization of emotions has also occurred and that Western societies are entering a postemotional phase. In postemotional societies there has been a separation of emotion from action. The result is synthetic, manufactured emotions manipulated and standardized for mass consumption. In this paper I explore what it means to nurse in a ‘postemotional society’ and what impact this dulling of the emotions has had on a profession that locates ‘care’ as its central defining concept. My aim is to generate critical discussion of the shape and direction of contemporary society and the role of nursing within it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pedagogy, as in life generally, there are moral complexities and ambiguities intrinsic to the teaching–learning process. Within the context of the knowledge economy and globalization those complexities and ambiguities are proliferating. How we as educators address the interface between these complexities is critical to how well we and those we serve fare in the educational and practice environment. With the emergent corporate university culture it would seem that the major goal is to become a ‘knowledge factory’ or a site of knowledge creation. Increasingly its scientific and technological agenda is to focus on generating knowledge that would further the means and ends of economic growth and public policy. Traditionally, however, education has meant much more than this. Indeed, the original purpose of university education was designed to foster a desire for right conduct and good things which ultimately cannot be neatly packaged and delivered. Within this view, university educators would thus be expected to cultivate a climate of self-reflection in which learning can be fulfilling in itself. This paper explores the notion of globalization and its hegemonic influence on the university agenda and addresses how corporatism, a key dimension of globalization, is in effect usurping the very essence of the teaching–learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]