Alexandra Brewer

Alexandra Brewer, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded the Donald W. Light Article Award from the American Sociological Association for “Painful Feelings: Opioids as Tools for Avoiding Emotional Labor in Hospital Work,” published in June 2023 in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. The award is given in alternate years to a book or journal article published in the preceding two years that employs the concepts and methods of medical sociology to an applied issue or problem of significance. Brewer’s article, based on a 21-month hospital ethnography, examines how opioids are used to manage clinician emotional labor and shape patient care and workplace dynamics.