The Professional Society vs. the Populist Society

A recent story from the CBC about patients rating their doctors has brought to fore what we consider to be an ongoing tension in contemporary society. The website, which is run by the same people who started ratemyteacher.com and ratemyprof.com allows users to post anonymous comments and rank their doctor, teacher, prof, out of five (five being the highest). Many doctors, like teachers and profs before them, appear annoyed at the service, while the websites argue that they are providing information about the professionals they rank.

The problem rests in the belief of the website owners and users that the users themselves have enough background information into what makes an effective doctor, teacher, or prof. These professionals meanwhile, argue that they contain sophisticated training and education that is not apparent, understood, or perhaps appreciated by their clients. They may explain that the client is not in the proper emotional state, or that they are acting in a manner most conducive to getting the client to perform a certain action that is in the best interest of their client, but for which the client has little motivation to perform. Thus, the professionals feel that what is being ranked is not their competence, but solely their interpersonal skills.

However, as Michel Foucault would argue, what is at stake here is the ability of professional groups, any professional group, to position itself as the possessors of some arcane skill set and the sole interpreters of the uses of those skills. On the otherhand, we have a group that believes contemporary society, regardless of its inherent complexity, is nevertheless egalitarian in that all people, and their opinions, are of equal value, despite their inequal experiences and knowledge in certain areas.