2. In examining health, illness, and medicine as a social institution, interactionists generally focus on the micro-level study of the roles played by health care professionals and patients. They emphasize that the patient should not always be viewed as passive. Labeling theorists suggest that the designation of “healthy” or “ill” involves social definition of others. Specifically, health care professionals have the power to define certain people as “sick.” Such labels commonly reshape how others treat us and how we see ourselves.