ABSTRACT
It is the beginning of a new academic year and the fi rst year medical students visit the university for the induction week. All of the students appear to be excited and proud to have been accepted at the medical school in order to pursue their studies, and later a career, in medicine. They chat among themselves, meet faculty members, and review the curriculum once more so that everything is clear to them before they start their classes. In a related session, the course director, Professor Carol Simpson, presents the curriculum in detail; she reviews the basic and clinical sciences components fi rst and then carries on presenting the social sciences. The social sciences are represented by psychology, epidemiology, sociology, research methods, communication skills and ethics. One student, Frank Bennet, raises his hand in order to make a comment and Professor Carol nods at him:
Profesor Carol: Yes, please. Frank: I don’t understand why we have so many sessions in social sciences
subjects. We are here to learn how to become doctors, not social analysts! Professor Carol: You are right. In the future you will be practising doctors and
that is why you need to know about the social aspects of health. Frank: I understand that epidemiological knowledge, statistics, medical eth-
ics, communication with patients, and so on, are indeed helpful. However, it is not clear to me why I should know about sociology, which is a largely theoretical discipline.
