Medical Authority and Social Interaction Dynamics

For our purposes, we focus on how medical authority shapes social interactions, particularly the

medical interview. III. The Medical Interview: Doctors and Patients Authoritarian doctors,

passive patients As medical science became more specialized and pharmaceuticals became central to

treatment, a large disparity grew between physician and patient knowledge. Doctors acted as

gatekeepers, and patients had limited ability to challenge them. The medical interview

became: – physician-driven – paternalistic – based on physician control over information

and decision-making – dependent on patients’ passive cooperation Timmermans provides two examples—one

from the 1970s and one from his recent work—to illustrate how this interview style has changed.