ABSTRACT
This paper examines the structure, ideology, and conflicts of the medical profession in a non-democratic country, Spain. It is divided into three parts: (1) an overview of the structural peculiarities of the Spanish medical profession compared with other southern European countries (Portugal, Italy, Yugoslavia); (2) an analysis of the distinctive ideologies that Spanish physicians have developed during the years 1939 to 1976; and (3) a brief reference to the power conflicts between the medical profession and other pressure groups, as well as within the medical profession itself. This triple analysis attempts to contribute further research on the role of the medical profession in non-democratic countries to augment the models biased towards Western democracies which sociologists in this field have developed. It seeks to examine two different questions: (1) in what manner is the health structure1 of a non-democratic country influenced by the manifest and latent objectives of the medical profession; and (2) in what ways is a social group, like the medical profession, shaped by the structure of a non-democratic society?
