The Nature and Status of Medical Sociology

Straus, Robert

doi:10.2307/2088858

Cited by 239 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Medical sociology has traditionally been divided by its potential to operate as a sociology in or for the health and medical sciences, or a sociology of the health and medical sciences (Strauss, 1957). In its former, and more historical, incarnation the role of the discipline has been to support the health and medical professions in aiding their understanding of social processes which are contributory to the causes of disease and assist in explanations of its consequences.…”

Section: Critical Perspectives On the Health Of Men: Lessons From Medmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, both practice and analysis can benefit from an approach characterised more by the sociology of health and medicine, rather than in or for health and medicine (Strauss, 1957). The latter has been prevalent within current work in the field which has uncritically sought to persuade men to engage more actively with their bodies and selves.…”

Section: Critical Perspectives On the Health Of Men: Lessons From Medmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Critical perspectives on the health of men: lessons from medical sociology

Crawshaw

2009

Critical Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Critical Perspectives On the Health Of Men: Lessons From Medmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Critical Perspectives On the Health Of Men: Lessons From Medmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical perspectives on the health of men: lessons from medical sociology

Crawshaw

2009

Critical Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…These questions can be related to much earlier insights on the role of the social sciences in medicine. One now classic distinction is posed by Straus (1957) between the sociology of medicine and sociology in medicine:…”

Section: Disciplinary Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social medicine and sociology: the productiveness of antagonisms arising from maintaining disciplinary boundaries

Boulton

2017

Soc Theory Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay considers the boundaries between the sociology of medicine and social medicine and the reasons distinctions are maintained between the two disciplines. To investigate, the essay asks what constitutes the distinction between social sciences and social medicine, and goes on to question historical distinctions of how foundational sociology is to social medicine; how much autonomy the sociology of medicine should have; contemporary challenges to the relation between sociology and social medicine; and the status of ethics, both traditionally and contemporarily, between sociology and social medicine. In the face of increasing emphases on interdisciplinarity, this essay offers a note of caution by demonstrating how the antagonism between sociology and social medicine is important as a site that produces a necessary polemic. Ultimately, I argue that the social sciences and social medicine are linked in a productive relationship that instates and reinstates their respective functions and values in a process that validates the practice of modern medicine.

show abstract

“…The classic distinction drawn by Straus between sociology in and o/medicine (Straus 1957), can be found repeated, in different ways, in a variety of non-clinical disciplines (Campbell and Wiles 1976). What seems to be at issue here is the right of the particular disciplines not just to aid in projects which are of interest to clinicians but to take an independent part in the formulation and design of new projects.…”

Section: The Diversity and Ambiguity Of Inter-disciplinary Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viewpoint: the academic encirclement of medicine?

Strong

1984

Sociology Health & Illness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Though we all have need of doctors, the amount of faith we place in their advice seems to vary from age to age. At the moment, we live in an era of increasing scepticism. The cost, the effectiveness and the humanity of modem medicine are all the subject of controversy. Has bio-medicine really contributed much towards better health? Or is it mostly due to better nutrition, sanitation and housing? Do surgery or chemotherapy on a massive scale actually cure us or are they both ineffective and iatrogenic, piloducing rather than mitigating human misery? Does medicine free us from disease or does it serve as an instrument of social control? The new philosophy calls all in doubt.The new philosophers are a mixed bunch -historians, lawyers, theologians, acupuncturists, ecologists, community physicians, faith healers, activists, statisticians and social scientists. One of the things we have in common, apart from an interest in health, is the hope that we might wax as conventional medicine wanes. How likely is this? This is the question that this paper sets out to explore, though it focusses on just one segment of the new philosophers, the non-medical academics and their aspirations to re-shape the course of medical practice. It asks what chance have sociologists or statisticians actually got to re-shape the medical world?In attempting to answer this question, the paper is divided into five main sections. The first offers a quick historical sketch of the development of a scientific approach within medicine, while the second describes the rapid growth of various non-clinical disciplines with an interest in health and disease and their assault on the medical citadel. It focusses primarily on the extent to which they are accepted as colleagues by the medical profession and provides several reasons for thinking that the power of the non-clinical disciplines is growing, that some doctors welcome the prospect while others are somewhat alarmed. This interesting vision is then heavily qualified. The third section observes that, for all the extraordinary fragmentation of medicine into different specialisms, the profession has maintained a separate community, a solitary and isolated way of life which normally overrides the internal division of labour. To penetrate this is a hard task indeed. Moreover, as

show abstract

The Nature and Status of Medical Sociology

Cited by 239 publications

References 0 publications

Critical perspectives on the health of men: lessons from medical sociology

Critical perspectives on the health of men: lessons from medical sociology

Social medicine and sociology: the productiveness of antagonisms arising from maintaining disciplinary boundaries

Viewpoint: the academic encirclement of medicine?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About