Patients

Sociological thinking which was dominated until the early sixties by the school of ‘structural-functionalist’ or systems theories and in Britain by empiricism, has expanded into a heterodox situation where several ‘brands’ of sociology uneasily coexist. Thus the role of the medical profession in the illness process is defined and reinforced by the ways in which doctors behave; and the universalised expectations of patients are conditioned by what they believe the doctor expects of them. The consultation process is commonly accepted as one in which the deferential patient acts as a passive receiver. In reality the deference is frequently only the acting out of a traditional role. Margaret Stacey has expressed doubts about patient consumerism on the grounds that the patient is viewed as more of a ‘work object’ than as a ‘consumer’. In relations between the providers and consumers of services there has been a clear shift in behaviour in recent years.