Medical Talk and Medical Work [Paperback]

Underlying the analysis is research on the work of haematologists, which offers a rich resource for understanding the complexities and contradictions between physical bodies and social embodiment, medical talk and technical apparatus. Using but moving beyond this specific material, Paul Atkinson demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the existing understanding of medical knowledge. Among the issues explored are: the place of interaction among doctors, rather than between doctors and patients, in defining the construction of medical knowledge; the ways in which clinical opinion is socially prThe development of a sociology of medical knowledge is both assessed and contributed to in Medical Talk and Medical Work.

Underlying the analysis is research on the work of haematologists, which offers a rich resource for understanding the complexities and contradictions between physical bodies and social embodiment, medical talk and technical apparatus. Using but moving beyond this specific material, Paul Atkinson demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the existing understanding of medical knowledge. Among the issues explored are: the place of interaction among doctors, rather than between doctors and patients, in defining the construction of medical knowledge; the ways in which clinical opinion is socially pr`Makes liberal use of transcripts of conversational language and writes in an engaging style. The contemporary significance of this book makes it an attractive acquisition' - Choice

`Paul Atkinson's work on the discourses of medicine and medical knowledge is well- known. In his latest book he extends it with a detailed ethnographic exploration of how one partlsj