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On the margins of the medical marketplace? An exploratory study of alternative practitioners’ perceptions
Author(s) -
Cant Sarah L.,
Calnan Michael
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.ep11340313
Subject(s) - position (finance) , perception , autonomy , exploratory research , public relations , psychology , qualitative research , position paper , medical education , sociology , medicine , political science , business , social science , law , finance , pathology , neuroscience
The aim of this paper, drawing on data from an exploratory, qualitative investigation of the perceptions of alternative practitioners, is to examine the role and position of non‐orthodox medicine within the medical market. It specifically looks at how alternative practitioners firstly ‘experience’ their position and secondly their perceptions and images of how it should be. Clearly, one of the key issues is how the position of alternative practitioners relates to the medical profession and how they manage to estblish and maintain their position. This question was looked at particularly in terms of whether alternative practitioners adopt the strategies used by other occupational groups in the pursuit of autonomy.