Accueil > English Supplement > Volume 53, Supplement 1 > Continuity, capture, network : The professional logics of the organization (...)

Continuity, capture, network : The professional logics of the organization of care - H. Bergeron, P. Castel

Henri Bergeron, Patrick Castel
Sciences Po, Centre de sociologie des organisations (CSO), CNRS, 19, rue Amélie, 75007 Paris, France

Available online 18 October 2011. on ScienceDirect
doi:10.1016/j.soctra.2011.09.002

Abstract
Cooperation in medicine, as in all group activity, is a key problem both for the actors involved and for sociologists. Classical studies in the sociology of health and medicine are moreover of little help in conceptualizing this problem. While arguing against the idea that affiliation with an institutional structure – such as a part of a professional segment or an area of expertise – determines relations between actors, our analysis seeks to move beyond the description of what is presented as being purely contingent. To understand phenomena related to cooperation and conflict, it is possible and worthwhile to distinguish between professionals according to their position in the therapeutic chain and their form of involvement in the strategy of care. Cooperation is based, in particular, on the match between “acquisitive” professionals who feel it is their duty to coordinate medical care and follow-up on a patient throughout the healing process, and other professionals who see their intervention as being limited to one phase in the therapeutic itinerary.

Keywords : Cooperation ; Organization ; Referral ; Conflict ; Network ; Cancer ; Addiction ; Health ; Sociology of professions ; Sociology of organizations ; Sociology of health

Article Outline

  • 1. Settings and methods
  • 2. How can professional cooperation in healthcare delivery be accounted for ?
  • 3. Elements of professional differentiation : types of patients, position and commitment
    • 3.1. Positioning along the therapeutic chain
    • 3.2. Selective systems and professionals
    • 3.3. The commitment associated to the professional’s positioning
  • 4. Dynamics of cooperation and conflict
    • 4.1. Patient referral, appropriate clientele and conflict
    • 4.2. Matching commitments, cooperation and conflicts
    • 4.3. Strategies of matching and stabilizing networks
  • 5. Conclusion
  • References

Sociologie du Travail
Volume 53, Supplement 1, November 2011, Pages e1-e18
Translated by Gabrielle Varro.