ABSTRACT
One of the most striking features of modern life is the constant invention, application and modification of modes of formal organization. The author emphasizes the structural context in which individual action occurs. If one wishes to explain behaviour or seeks to modify it, it is as important to look to the system as it is to the individuals who work within it. He argues that there are fundamental and irreconcilable conflicts inherent within medical consultations, and these occur, not just between staff and parents, but even within the various things that any one individual may want or have to do. Grasping Goffman's own classification of these frames is a rather difficult task, since he has written voluminously in and around the area but has never supplied any ordered guide to his own work. New terms and new ideas are continually appearing and the relation of any one to any other is a matter for some speculation.
