The Business of Good Doctoring or Doctoring as Good Business: Reflections on Freidson's View of the Medical Game

Abstract

This paper reflects on selected aspects of the work of Eliot Freidson and is based mainly on his three latest books — Profession of Medicine, Professional Dominance, and Doctoring Together—in which he draws together his various contributions and elaborates a substantial argument concerning the dominant position of physicians within the institution of medicine in particular and, more generally, their unique position within the broader society. Freidson's work is considered from the perspective of political economy. The paper discusses, on a broad level, some of the assumptions underlying his analysis, the adequacy of his theoretical orientation and level of analysis for understanding the House of Medicine in the United States, and some implications that follow.