Our research aims to understand when, how and why the concept of compliance and its corollaries enter the scope of care practice. The way in which this objective could be pursued was to carry out an analysis of the written observations on the concept of compliance/compliance which emerged in the 1980s in the French health services and which has become widespread since then. This includes French-speaking and Anglo-Saxon work in the humanities and social sciences. We have read it critically in order to update the following: (1) the conditions for the emergence of this concept and its development in relation to related concepts (adherence/adherence, concordance, therapeutic education, loyalty/fidelity, etc.); (2) the issues underlying its emergence and wide dissemination in the circles of practice; (3) definitions and measurements produced in the context of clinical studies; (4) the various factors put forward to explain patients’ attitudes towards medical prescriptions and recommendations. Particular attention is paid to locating the emergence and dissemination of the concept of compliance/compliance in a comparative purpose on the basis of documents produced in English and French to highlight differences or similarities between countries (and health systems), pathologies and medical specialities.