test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent

Prevention or Production. Autonomy and Subordination in Occupational Medicine (France, 1970-2010)
type: Dataset
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: conditions-de-travail
keyword: occupational-health
keyword: working-conditions
keyword: responsibility
keyword: subordination
keyword: sante-au-travail
keyword: theses
keyword: medecine-du-travail
keyword: travail
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: salariat
keyword: responsabilite
keyword: profession-medicale
keyword: autonomy
keyword: independence
keyword: occupational-medicine
keyword: shssociohumanities-and-social-sciencessociology
keyword: utonomie
keyword: wage-society
keyword: medical-profession
keyword: independance
keyword: work
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00790523
description: This doctoral essay studies the professional autonomy of occupational physicians in France between 1970 and 2010. It explores how, although they are expected to be independent in their work, these doctors are bound to their employers by a work contract, i.e. a relationship of subordination. It also sheds light on the failure of occupational hazard prevention in France. The study of historical documents combined with an ethnographic study of currently active physicians shows how the issue of autonomy varies according to the setting. The apparent coexistence of autonomy and subordination is possible only inasmuch the " medical " side of professional activity (on which the physician is entitled to complete independence) is distinguished from its " administrative " side (which allows for a legitimate degree of subordination). I show that this distinction is the unstable product of continuous negociations between occupational doctors and their counterparts (e.g. other professionals in the medical service or the company, other doctors...). Furthermore, even the definition of the work that has to be done - that is, all the tasks that can be performed legitimately in the name of occupational medecine - appears to be the precarious result of continuous negociations in each medical service. The issue of autonomy is settled not only in the professional's control over his work, but also in the process which leads to the definition of this work. Hence, this work shows the shortcomings of the classic definition of professional autonomy as control over routine activites, which is problematic when the nature of the work to be done is not given in advance, but at the center of conflicts. On a more general scale, it gives a perspective on the tension between legitimate and illegitimate dependency, consent or resistance to subordination, which is at the heart of work relationships in wage society.
issued: 2026-05-14T09:07:24.521582
language: fr
modified: 2026-05-14T09:07:24.521587

Prevention or Production. Autonomy and Subordination in Occupational Medicine (France, 1970-2010)
type: Distribution
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00790523
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-14T09:07:24.575952
modified: 2026-05-14T09:07:24.471817