Summary article: ‘’Burnout: 35 years of research and practice’’ –
Schaufeli, Leiter & Maslach.
In the past: burnout wasn’t something scientists and researchers paid attention to. Later on, it has
become a phenomenon of notable global significance.
The concept of burnout has stimulated research on job stress, especially in areas like the helping
professions. Also stimulated theorizing in the area of emotional labour, symptom contagion, and
social exchange.
Understanding the nature of burnout
Burnout is sometimes described as the smothering of a fire or the extinguishing of a candle. The
metaphor describes the exhaustion of employees’ capacity to maintain an intense involvement that
has a meaningful impact at work. Freudenberger (1974) used the term to describe gradual emotional
depletion, loss of motivation and reduced commitment. Study among volunteers of St Mark’s Free
Clinic that he observed as a consulting psychiatrist.
Study Maslach came across ‘burnout’ during study among human services workers. Question of
how they coped with their emotional arousal using cognitive strategies such as detached concern.
Burnout was first referred to as ‘’a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and
reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in some
capacity’’, mostly for people working within the human services.
By the late 1980s they began to recognize that burnout occurred outside the human services. The
definition changed to ‘’… a state of exhaustion in which one is cynical about the value of one’s
occupation and doubtful of one’s capacity to perform’’.
Social and cultural context of emerging burnout
The concept of burnout seems to have its roots embedded within several broad social, economic and
cultural developments of the 1960s in the USA:
1950s and onward: human services rapidly professionalized and bureaucratized as a result of
greater government and state influence. Small-scaled traditional agencies where work was
considered a calling, transformed into large-scale modern organizations with formalized job
descriptions. The frustration and disillusionment arising from a widespread,
institutionalized clash of utilitarian organizational values with providers’ personal or
professional values contributed further to burnout.
Early 1960s: John F. Kennedy: vision of public service. President Lyndon B. Johnson launched
the ‘’War on Poverty’’ that caused large influx of idealistically motivated young people into
human services professions. However, systematic factors that kept poverty going made their
efforts of no use. Frustrated idealism was a defining quality of the burnout
experience, mirroring the intensity of combustion (candle example). It was critical to the
concept’s momentum: service providers were appalled at their diminished capacity to
perform or show compassion towards their recipients. The experience of burnout was not
merely an inconvenience or an occupational hazard, but a devastating attack on their
professional identity.
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Schaufeli, Leiter & Maslach.
In the past: burnout wasn’t something scientists and researchers paid attention to. Later on, it has
become a phenomenon of notable global significance.
The concept of burnout has stimulated research on job stress, especially in areas like the helping
professions. Also stimulated theorizing in the area of emotional labour, symptom contagion, and
social exchange.
Understanding the nature of burnout
Burnout is sometimes described as the smothering of a fire or the extinguishing of a candle. The
metaphor describes the exhaustion of employees’ capacity to maintain an intense involvement that
has a meaningful impact at work. Freudenberger (1974) used the term to describe gradual emotional
depletion, loss of motivation and reduced commitment. Study among volunteers of St Mark’s Free
Clinic that he observed as a consulting psychiatrist.
Study Maslach came across ‘burnout’ during study among human services workers. Question of
how they coped with their emotional arousal using cognitive strategies such as detached concern.
Burnout was first referred to as ‘’a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and
reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in some
capacity’’, mostly for people working within the human services.
By the late 1980s they began to recognize that burnout occurred outside the human services. The
definition changed to ‘’… a state of exhaustion in which one is cynical about the value of one’s
occupation and doubtful of one’s capacity to perform’’.
Social and cultural context of emerging burnout
The concept of burnout seems to have its roots embedded within several broad social, economic and
cultural developments of the 1960s in the USA:
1950s and onward: human services rapidly professionalized and bureaucratized as a result of
greater government and state influence. Small-scaled traditional agencies where work was
considered a calling, transformed into large-scale modern organizations with formalized job
descriptions. The frustration and disillusionment arising from a widespread,
institutionalized clash of utilitarian organizational values with providers’ personal or
professional values contributed further to burnout.
Early 1960s: John F. Kennedy: vision of public service. President Lyndon B. Johnson launched
the ‘’War on Poverty’’ that caused large influx of idealistically motivated young people into
human services professions. However, systematic factors that kept poverty going made their
efforts of no use. Frustrated idealism was a defining quality of the burnout
experience, mirroring the intensity of combustion (candle example). It was critical to the
concept’s momentum: service providers were appalled at their diminished capacity to
perform or show compassion towards their recipients. The experience of burnout was not
merely an inconvenience or an occupational hazard, but a devastating attack on their
professional identity.
1
