CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Anchevska, Elena |
|---|---|
| Title | POWER AND RESISTANCE IN THE MEDICAL ENCOUNTER: A MACEDONIAN CASE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WOMEN PATIENTS AND MALE PHYSICIANS |
| Summary | Based on ethnographic research in three gynecological clinics in Skopje, Macedonia and seventeen semi-structured interviewees with patients, this thesis aims to explore the relationship between female patients and male physicians (mainly gynecologists and surgeons) in primary and secondary health care settings in contemporary Macedonia. I examine the ways in which power and resistance underlie and inform both physicians and patients’ actions and expectations in the process of treatment management and care, by exploring what women’s experiences of medical interactions can uncover about the underlying power relations and possible strategies of resistance. I argue that Macedonian women patients often recognize and accept the power imbalance apparent in their encounters with their physicians; usually they do not challenge the medical authority of their doctors and are aware of their subordinate/passive position (which is commonly attributed to the doctors’ specialized knowledge and their self-perceived lack of familiarity with medical information). However, women are not simply passive recipients of care; thus I explore the discrepancies and discontinuities in women’s passivity in medical power relations in which they manifest their agency by directly challenging the medical knowledge and advice of the physicians, by opting out or by limiting their exposure to medical interactions, by non-compliance with prescribed therapy and/or use of alternative medicine and by seeking for second opinion or by changing the physician with whom they experienced problematic interactions. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/ancevska_elena.pdf |
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