Talcott Parsons was the first social scientist to theorize the doctor-patient relationship, and his functionalist, role-based approach defined analysis of the doctor-patient relationship for the next two decades. Parsons (1951, 1958, 1978) began with the assumption that illness was a form of dysfunctional deviance that required reintegration with the social organism. Illness, or feigned illness, exempted people from work and other responsibilities, and ... was potentially detrimental to the social order if uncontrolled. Maintaining the social order required the development of a legitimized "sick role" to control this deviance, and make illness a transitional state back to normal role performance. In Western society, Parsons saw four norms governing the functional sick role: 1. the individual is not responsible for their illness; 2.