This book analyzes power in new, more complex ways, and incorporates current cutting edge debates in patients' ability to resist medical power. Part One is devoted to sociolinguistic and cognitive approaches to doctor-patient discourse. Chapters analyze the patterns of talk that are produced by the situational demands of the medical setting and provide a detailed examination of the interplay of clinical reasoning and language use in the organizational context of health care delivery. Part Two examines the production of doctor-patient communication. Chapters address the social production of doctor-patient discourse, examine the relationship between social structure and social interaction, and explore the relationship between power and resistance.