ABSTRACT
Struggling is simply explained as the collection of strategies and tactics involved in attempting to satisfy personal goals in a difficult climate, whilst presenting an appropriate self to others. M. A. Blegen and E. Lawler continue their theory of tactical action with analysis of attempts by clients to change the power relations, that is, to gain more power themselves or weaken that of the professional. They suggest that it is possible to decrease the authority's power by decreasing one's own interest in goals towards which the authority is working. The social processes involved in care and treatment are more effectively illuminated from a conflict perspective, whether this is in terms of a general theory of human relations as J. Rex would have it, or in terms of the control and social production of labour in the ward.
