Medico ergo sum. Construction of symbolic inequalities and boundaries between physicians and healers /and their professional identity

My diploma thesis deals with the relationship and more specifically with the boundaries and inequalities between scientific medicine and alternative medicine from the constructionistic and interactionistic point of view. It explores how the boundaries are constructed by the representatives of biomedicine on one side and the representatives of alternative medicine on the other side. This thesis is based on a qualitative research - semi-standardised interviews with members of both systems of medicine. The state and the role of alternative medicine in czech setting is presented to the reader and the construction of boundaries in this context is explored. The thesis shows that the representatives of biomedicine build boundaries mainly based on moral aspects, while the representatives of alternative medicine have larger and more varied repertoire of boundaries. The fact is probably given by structural conditions and the role of alternative medicine - while the representatives of biomedicine "only" want to maintain the status quo, the representatives of alternative medicine struggle to change their situation, which requires bigger effort