Rehabilitation can be defined as the social structures and processes by which persons with chronic or, respectively, long- term health impairments and disabilities are reintegrated into the economic, social and cultural life of society and especially into working life. One of the central subjects of sociology since its origin are "work" and "division of labour". Medical sociologists were dealing with the topic "work" primarily from the perspective of its potential pathogenicity. This presentation aims to illustrate by selected examples in which ways medical sociology can take part in current medical rehabilitation research and thereby contribute to the topic "participation of people with disability in working life".