The failure of preventative messages and the governance of conducts in general medical practice

This article, based on an inquiry on the preventive care dispensed by French general practitioners, shows that some of them use aggressive and disrespectful rhetoric against patients reluctant to follow their advice about health-related behavior. It focuses on these moments that challenge models of contemporary health education and professionalism in family medicine. Beginning with a methodological discussion relating to the conditions under which these interactions take place, we analyse what aggressive or disrespectful words reveal about the transformations of the purpose of medical work and of medical authority and its effects on behavior. Beyond mismatches during the consultation, our thesis is that such outbursts arise simultaneously with the occurrence of major shifts in paradigms affecting models of health knowledge, doctor-patient relationships, and the governance of private medicine.