This research uses 40 ethnographies, biographies, and autobiographies to explore various symbolic themes expressed through everyday interaction in nursing homes. The themes involve bureaucratic concepts such as staff separation, rules, documentation, and efficiency. They also involve ideas of emotional abuse and neglect, like objectification, compassion transgressions, and spiritual negligence. Relying on structural ritualization theory, we argue ritualized symbolic practices of bureaucracy unintentionally facilitate attitudes and acts of emotional neglect in both for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes. This assists in the development of rituals facilitating the poor treatment of residents. Overall, we propose that if society is going to have humane care for nursing home residents, it must first understand the ritual dynamics that lead to employees viewing and treating those they care for with a lack of dignity.