ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the inculcation of some precise aspects of the professional disposition of Co-operation and of its inverse, Competition, among preclinical students on the unofficial front-and backstage settings of the medical school. In Freshers’ Week, students are registered and teaching starts. The official frontstage presentations began with a summons to appear in a lecture theatre, where all new students assembled, completely filling it; latecomers had to sit on the steps down to the front. New medical students find they are now members of an institution that describes itself quite specifically as an alternative family. The events of Freshers’ Week continued, all concerned to promote the incorporation of the new students into a culture that appeared to be dominated by Co-operative shared physical activity, alcohol and sex. Medical students generically are also treated differently by other students, by whom they are recognisable, usually because they go around together in largish groups.
