Some implications for the study of the doctor-patient interaction: Power, structure, and agency in the works of Howard Waitzkin and Arthur Kleinman

This article critiques two major theoretical perspectives concerning the doctor-patient interaction in medical anthropology represented by the work of Howard Waitzkin and Arthur Kleinman.

Abstract

This article critiques two major theoretical perspectives concerning the doctor-patient interaction in medical anthropology represented by the work of Howard Waitzkin and Arthur Kleinman. In his work on the doctor-patient interaction Waitzkin has tended to draw on structural explanations which subordinate the role of agency. Kleinman's work emphasizes agency without satisfactorily integrating structural or social causality in his work on the doctor-patient interaction. The work of Anthony Giddens and others has clarified the structure/agency dichotomy in social science to which the nature of power is central.