Dr. No-body: the construction of the doctor as an embodied subject in British general practice 1955-97

Author(s): Armstrong, D.

Journal/Book: Sociol Health Ill. 1999; 21: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford Ox4 1Jf, Oxon, England. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 1-12.

Abstract: By reading the literature on the doctor-patient relationship in British general practice as an account of the emergence of the doctor as a human subject, connections can be demonstrated between the discipline's apparent success in establishing 'patient-centred' consulting methods and the recent problematisation of the figure of the general practitioner herself. This theme can be traced through an evolving construction of the object of general practice known as 'the patient', and through the changing portrayal of the power relation between doctor and patient. Furthermore, the same theories and techniques which have been used to examine the consultation and construct an image of the patient as a psyche-social agent have, in a parallel process, served to generate images of the doctor as an embodied and vulnerable individual.

Note: Article Gothill M, UMDS, Dept Gen Practice, 3 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6SP, ENGLAND

Keyword(s): body; doctor-patient relationship; general practice; identity

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