Why are doctors dissatisfied? The role of origin myths

Abstract

Leaders of the medical profession are increasingly concerned about the extent to which members have become discontented with their lot. Predictably, the profession tends to look outwards for explanations, to the changing social, economic and organizational contexts of health care. Sociologists, however, have long recognized that a ‘social problem’ is not an objective state of affairs but a complaint that the world falls short of the complainant’s ideals. If we want to understand doctors’ dissatisfaction, then, another approach might be to ask what would make them content. What are the ideals of medical practice? What are new doctors – and the wider public – led to expect that professional life will be like? How do these expectations relate to the contingencies and experiences of everyday medical work?