ABSTRACT
The physician is the most prominent among members of the generally recognized professions. The economic and political autonomy of the medical profession varies from country to country. Quite as much as most sociologists, the medical profession consider medical education to be the major single factor determining the performance of the practicing professional. The value of medical responsibility refers to the traditional ideals of medicine, according to which the physician holds the life of a patient in his hands. The analysis of work organization or practice is a critical problem for the sociology of professions. Empirical examples of the logical extreme of colleague-dependent practices are easier to find in modern medicine. Specialists like pathologists and radiologists, are almost completely dependent upon colleague referrals and therefore have little need for such client-oriented techniques as a good bedside manner. The analytical problem helps to understand what contributes to shaping this peculiar process of professional regulation and to point out its structural consequences.
