ABSTRACT
During the 1960s and 1970s, one theme recurred in British and American writing in medical sociology and health policy: that medical power was an entrenched feature of modern systems of health care. In sociological terms, medicine, with law, was the paradigmatic profession, a publicly mandated and state-backed monopolistic supplier of a valued service, exercising autonomy in the workplace and collegiate control over recruitment, training and the regulation of members’ conduct (Freidson 1970; Johnson 1972). Moreover, in the eyes of some sociologists, this dominant profession was imperialistic, apparently ruthlessly intent on enlarging its sphere of influence through the medicalizing of society (e.g. Zola 1972) as well as subordinating other occupations in the health division of labour (Freidson 1970).
