The Presentation of Paradise: Impression Management and the Contemporary Nursing Home

Abstract

This report discusses dramaturgical perspectives, organizational impression management, and the history of the nursing home industry. Through participant observation, it uses a critical dramaturgical analysis to examine social interaction in three for-profit nursing homes. It explores how employees in these facilities create impressions of affective care in the face of negative publicity and long-term care competition. Specifically, the article examines four impression management tactics related to nursing home environments, concluding with suggestions for future research relating to organizational deviance.