Analyzing Freidson's Four Claims Of The Medical Profession

The article by Freidson is about physicians who have the permission of the state to determine their own work, training and organization to a certain extent due to their expertise. The profession is permitted to have the ultimate management over the subject matter of his or her work. The medical profession has serious influence over determining what is an illness and creation of illness as a social state. Freidson makes four claims in which a physician has the ultimate control over the paramedical. The first reason is physicians have more degrees of skill and knowledge involving in the professional work that paramedical are not set to evaluate it. Second, the physician is capable of working without supervision, however, paramedical workers are more about assisting the physician.
Lastly, the physician has more of a prestigious role than the paramedical. Freidson argues that the physician possesses power of prestige which comes from the elite class which cut off to some extent from the common people. Freidson introduces lay referral system because he notices how corrupted the physicians are and that patients is better off consults with a certain groups before seeking a physician. Later in the article, Freidson criticizes Parsons' sick role concept. Freidson believes that the deviant behavior is socially classified. He categorizes the stages of illness into three legitimacies. First is conditionally legitimate where a person is momentarily unrestrained from their normal duty and later return to their normal role. Second, unconditionally legitimate are permanently exempt and can be viewed as incurable. Finally, illegitimate is exempt from some normal obligations and not responsible for their