Patients in the New Economy: The "Sick Role" in a Time of Economic Discipline

Abstract

From the anonymous victim of epidemics as collective scourges, from the traditional image of the alienated and passive "patient" to the "self-provider of medical care" as a new cultural figure, to the "health-care user" as a collective actor in the public-health system, and finally to the militant for whom the body is the basis of a new political action, the "sick person" appears to have travelled a long way, about which a number of questions must be asked (Herzlich and Pierret, 1987: 229).