ABSTRACT
It is now some years since the official bodies that control medical education in the UK recommended that all medical students should pursue studies of sociology (General Medical Council, 1967: 15; Royal Commission on Medical Education, 1968: 104-9). Over the last few years it has become commonplace for these students, as well as for many doctors with long experience in clinical work, to take some kind of sociology course. Yet to many of those required to follow sociology courses, and indeed to many of those who have required students to do sociology, the subject is something of an obscure mystery – often considered to have some relationship to socialism or to social work. In this chapter I want to consider some of the features of present-day medical practice that have led to the inclusion of sociology as a useful preparatory discipline and then go on to introduce some of the sociological concepts I consider salient to medical practitioners. Finally, I will review some of the issues in medical practice that I believe can be illuminated by sociology.
