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PubMed1975

Medical sociology in Great Britain.

The paper reports on a survey into the present state of medical sociology in Great Britain, describing the developments which have occurred following upon the recommendations in the Todd Report on the teaching of behavioural sciences to undergraduates. Details of existing and proposed courses at each school are given; they reveal the wide variations which exist, in respect of precise specification of educational objectives, course content, affiliation and qualifications of teachers, teaching methods, and curricular time. However, most schools are consciously trying to incorporate this discipline into the syllabus at an early stage. At present several of the provincial schools have more experience of teaching medical sociology than do the London schools, but this difference may soon be lessened. In most cases the subject is taught in close association with social or community medicine, but connexions with psychology and psychiatry are often close. The prospects for this relatively untried subject are good, with new medical schools demonstrating new ways of applying sociology to medicine.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed2004

Sociology and political arithmetic: some principles of a new policy science.

This paper advances the position that sociology needs to develop an approach to research which focuses on fundamental social problems. In doing so it shares many of the intellectual values and goals of political arithmetic while seeking to move methodologically beyond it. Since such problems are complex they will require, typically, interdisciplinary input and a concomitant approach to the development and appraisal of theories. We are not, therefore, advocating the primacy of sociology but arguing that it has a distinctive part to play in addressing the fundamental problems of the twenty-first century. However, a policy-oriented sociology has also to take up the task, so clearly defined by the tradition of political arithmetic, which is to hold governments to account. Consequently a central principle of a new policy science is that it should contribute to democratic debate about policy.

Democracy↗
PubMed2006

Castells' Catalan routes: nationalism and the sociology of identity.

Castells' analysis of the rise of a global network society and information age is underpinned, paradoxically, by a nationalist vision with organic links in a Gramscian sense to Catalan nationalism. This leads to various weaknesses in his theory, especially an over-emphasis on language and nation at the expense of class. Exploring the specifically Catalan origins of his work, and testing its adequacy there, helps us to understand Castells' broader approach. Discussion of Castells has perhaps overlooked his commitment to nationalism because the sociology of identity sometimes unwittingly adopts what Billig has called a banal nationalist perspective. A stricter distinction between the different meanings of the term identity would help sociology to avoid arguments, such as that of Castells, that risk becoming determinist, teleological or both. The article concludes by asking whether the 'sociological imagination' has been alert enough to its banal nationalist form, facilitated by its intimate relationship with the state, its concern for policy relevance and methods of data gathering.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychotherapy and sociology: flirtation, marriage or divorce?

Psychotherapy and sociology are themselves products of mixed marriages; each experiences problems of identity and their children face problems of legitimacy. This paper considers the relevance of some sociological perspectives to the psychotherapeutic process, using the following analogies; (1) Flirtation: Why the attraction? 'going steady' or 'femme fatale'? (2) Marriage: Mutual enrichment, cross-fertilisation and new life? Examples of shared perspectives in the work of E. Becker, Erikson, Goffman etc. Influence of psychosocial contexts on psychotherapeutic processes. (3) Divorce: Too little shared life or too much destructive criticism? If the world within man and the world between men are interrelated, psychotherapy and sociology--although at times uneasy bedfellows--have much to give each other.

Psychotherapy↗
PubMed1984

A sociology of migration or "race relations"? A view from Britain.

Literature on migration in the United Kingdom during the past 20 years is reviewed. The author argues that there is no cohesive sociology of migration that can be identified. Instead, the literature has largely focused on the topic of race relations. Three perspectives on the study of migration are identified: "the political economy of racism, the sociology of ethnic relations and an eclectic body of literature...[defined] as a sociology of migration, though it is dominated by a structuralist perspective." (SUMMARY IN FRE)

Demography↗
PubMed2006

Of pride and prejudice: the role of sociology and social networks in integrating the health sciences.

Calls have been issued for understanding the "contexts" or "environment" shaping the causes and consequences of health and health care. Existing efforts raise concerns about how a panorama of influences can be considered simultaneously. Sociology's view of contexts as social network structures that shape and are shaped in social interaction offers one key to resolving this dilemma. Because social networks have become central in the social, natural, and physical sciences, this perspective provides a common platform for bringing in sociology's rich theoretical and methodological insights. Yet, to do this well, three conditions must shape our response. First, all levels relevant to health and health care must be considered, separated out, and linked by network mechanisms. The genetic-biological level, perhaps the most foreign level to sociologists, represents the greatest need and best prospect for advancing a sociologically based solution. Second, room must be made to tailor models to populations, whether defined socially or medically. Third, sociologists must find a voice within "big science " to address problems from social construction to social causation that contribute to basic social processes as well as health. I trace developments in the Network-Episode Model as one theoretical starting point.

Humans↗
PubMed1997

Qualitative medical sociology: what are its crowning achievements?

Doctors and epidemiologists seldom read or cite qualitative medical sociology; it is little published in medical journals. A large number of articles bewail this lack and provide arguments explaining and justifying the subject. Any examples used in such articles are selected ad hoc. We made a systematic search for the literature and used citation analysis to select the world's top 100 articles. We analysed this trawl and provide resumés of a selection from the 'classics'. Mental health and the organization of medicine are the themes within medical sociology with highest impact. Much highly cited work consists of historical and theoretical analysis done 'at the desk' rather than observation or interview 'in the field'. Citation rates, even for the most famous works in medical sociology, are a small fraction of those for high impact biomedical research.

Bibliometrics↗
PubMed1999

Medical sociology: a personal fifty year perspective.

This paper reviews the author's experience in becoming a medical sociologist before the field had become formalized. The contributions to medical sociology of sociologist Selden D. Bacon and physician and medical educator William R. Willard are described. The relationship of medical sociology to medical behavioral science, as experienced at the University of Kentucky, is discussed. Finally, the thesis of the author's 1957 paper on the nature and status of medical sociology is re-examined.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1999

[Patients and homeopathy: an overview of sociological literature].

This paper is divided into three parts: first is an overview of the sociology of the doctor-patient-relationship in general; second is a discussion of the sociology of homeopathy as a heterogeneous form of medicine and as a form of medical pluralism; third is a sketch of some sociological views of the homeopathic patient. My general thesis is that the homeopathic doctor-patient-relationship may be considered both pre-modern and post-modern. It is characterized by partial expertise of the patient, and by longer patients' accounts.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed2002

Outcomes in the sociology of mental health and illness: where have we been and where are we going?

Sociologists of mental health and illness have traditionally used outcome measures that they have obtained from other disciplines, especially psychiatry and psychology. These include official statistics, symptom scales, and diagnostic measures. Answers to the central sociological question of how social arrangements affect mental health might require the development of explicitly sociological outcome measures. This introduction provides an overview of several issues that arise in grappling with this question. These include whether symptom scales or diagnoses best capture the mental health consequences of social arrangements; when single or multiple outcomes are necessary to compare the consequences of social arrangements across different groups; if sociologists should explore the positive as well as the negative consequences of social forces; and when sociological attention should be directed toward social-level as well as individual-level outcomes. The papers in this symposium that follow provide more detailed analyses of each of these issues.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1979

Medical sociology in general practice. An evaluation of course content and course strategy.

The increasing role of general practitioners in the medical curriculum has been accompanied by a greater concern for those aspects of the medical course directed toward an understanding of human behaviour. Medical sociology is one of the new disciplines which provides an understanding of this behaviour. As with any other new discipline, two types of question stand out. Firstly, what are medical sociologists trying to teach? Secondly, how do students react to this content? Both these questions are addressed via an evaluation of two medical sociology courses at Queensland University. Students begin a medical sociology course with a somewhat negative stereotype of how relevant the subject is likely to be. Following the two courses, some of their previously held views are modified. The nature of the modification appears to depend upon the balance between practical or theoretical orientations in the course, and their reflection in specific components of the course content.

Australia↗
PubMed1979

Sillitoe, Storey, Hines: their contribution to the sociology of sport and physical education.

The place of sporting activity in literature is reviewed and attention is drawn to the outstanding depth and quality of much of the American writing in this genre. The focus of attention, however, in this paper, is the contribution of contemporary English literature. In recent years a number of novels, short stories and plays have translated sport into dramatic terms as well as placing such action within a recognisable and definable sociological framework. Selected writings by English authors Sillitoe, Storey and Hines are studied and examined to illustrate the many sources available to identify, describe, analyse and complement academic and empirical researches in the sociology of sport and physical education. There is unlimited scope for sports literature (especially in the North American situation) to provide a viable tool for sociological investigation.

England↗
PubMed1984

[The alcoholization process in Latin America. Critical analysis of biomedical and sociological production, 1970-1980 (2)].

This work analyses the bibliographical production in the sociological and biomedical fields on alcoholization generated within and for Latin America during the seventies. This production is characterized by a unilaterally "pathologizing" outlook, which contrasts with the outlook dominant in the socio-anthropological fields, and which was analysed in a previous work. Empirical and factorial outlook dominate, in both, theory and methodology. They stress again an approach whose serious limitations have already been shown. The dominant technical elements--the sociological and epidemiological inquest--keep on being utilized, in spite of the many criticisms which they have received. Data obtained not only bears little relevance on the problem, but also stresses facts at a level of depth which is not justified, and do not justify, the theoretical framework of analysis. In spite of the fact that unsystematized empirical data and specific research which has been undertaken in other regional areas have made reference to a continual deficit on the part of the health team for the diagnosis and treatment of the alcoholization process; we hardly have any research which can throw light on the scientific and ideological limitations of medical and paramedical actions. Besides, we do not have a systematic analysis of alternative therapeutic strategics. All bibliographical publications refers, in a very biased way, the process of alcoholization to the lower population strata, without any critical reflection on that association. The biomedical dimension, although it utilizes conceptions and viewpoints which have been taken from anthropological and sociological production, this appropiation has meant a modification, which, in fact, has caused a split between the two dominant productions in Latin America: the biomedical and the anthropological one. This split replicates the conflict between models, that operates within other national and international contexts.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2002

Nutrition and inequalities. A note on sociological approaches.

BACKGROUND: This article provides an overview of three approaches taken to illuminate the sociological contribution to the field of nutrition and inequalities, in the hope of prompting future researchers to pursue the lines of enquiry suggested. APPROACHES: Under the heading of inequalities in food use, the paper first exemplifies the utility of 'political arithmetic', possibly the sociological approach best known in public health. This includes socio-economic patterning in food purchases as well as disadvantage in access, where studies of poverty represent a longstanding focus. A rural/urban dimension has, however, been left dormant. A second approach is illustrated by work on public understandings of nutrition, encompassing primarily small-scale studies of beliefs about nutrition, which emphasise the plurality of lay definitions of diet and health. Lacking are studies which build on this work to uncover the relation to health inequalities. Third to be introduced is sociological work on the social distribution of taste, which illuminates the potential for examining enduring, shared ideas of styles in eating embedded in forms of the social organisation of the home that is associated with different socio-economic levels. CONCLUSION: The paper ends with comment on practical implications for public health practice and policy designed to reduce inequalities in nutrition.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2003

A sociological calendar of transitional stages during psychiatry residency training.

OBJECTIVE: In 1975, Donald Light, Jr., presented a "sociological calendar" as a paradigm for describing the important dimensions and stages of social and professional development in psychiatric residency training. The authors sought to develop an updated calendar and to determine if the calendar is consistent with attitudes of residents in various stages of their training. METHODS: A new sociological calendar was developed after conducting a focus group with chief residents. The Osgood Semantic Differential Survey (OSD) was used to measure residents' attitudes, and the results were compared with the modified calendar. RESULTS: The updated calendar differs considerably from Light's original calendar. Findings from the OSD were generally consistent with the updated calendar. CONCLUSIONS: A modern sociological calendar illustrates the relatively predictable transitions that residents go through over the course of their training. By better understanding these stages of development, supervisors and residency directors may become more effective in their teaching and support efforts.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Sociological investigations of mental illness: a review.

Contemporary sociological research has expanded knowledge about how the label of mental illness affects individuals and about how patients' and psychiatrists' social characteristics affect the assessment and treatment of mental disorders. The authors review the recent sociological research dealing with the effect of extrapsychiatric factors such as social class, race, gender, marital status, and age on the development, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness. They also examine sociological studies of the social role of the state hospital, the consequences of deinstitutionalization for chronic mentally ill patients, and the relationship of mental illness and homelessness. Studies that examine the social aspects of psychiatric practice, including the objectivity of psychiatric diagnosis, are also reviewed.

Deinstitutionalization↗
PubMed1992

Social psychiatry and sociology of mental health: a view on their past and future relevance.

The origins of social psychiatry can be traced to the age of enlightenment and to the effects of the industrial revolution. Social psychiatry deals with social factors associated with psychiatric morbidity, social effects of mental illness, psycho-social disorders and social approaches to psychiatric care. Since the end of World War II up to the early seventies it has been claimed that social psychiatry should concentrate on the fight against war, poverty, racial discrimination, urban decay and all other social ills affecting people's mental health, and that the psychiatrist should be responsible for the mental health of the society. In contrast, sociology of mental health questioned the expertise of the psychiatrist and the very existence of mental illness, claiming that it covers deviant behaviour rejected by the society. The paper refutes this approach indicating that not the existence but the perception and presentation of psychiatric illness are socially determined. Acknowledging the contribution of sociology and social sciences to psychiatry, it is suggested that the heroic period of social psychiatry and the iconoclastic approach of sociology of mental health are over. However, social psychiatry, enriched by the use of epidemiological methods, has still much to offer to the daily practice of psychiatry.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medical and sociological aspects of T's and Blues abuse in New Orleans.

The medical and sociological aspects of T's and Blues abuse in New Orleans were studied to determine the effect of abuse on the medical and psychological status of the individuals involved and the sociological effects on the community in general. Sociologically, the most pertinent findings were an increase in the number of (1) deaths related to the use of T's and Blues, (2) arrests and revocation of parole for possession and/or sale of Talwin, and (3) a decrease in the number of arrests for the possession and sale of heroin. In the medical and psychiatric context of this study, three distinct groups of addicts were found of which the T's and Blues users were the largest. Psychiatrically, the most pertinent observation was the high (30-35%) incidence of paranoid, violence prone life-styles seen among T's and Blues users. This finding certainly is in accord with the increased homicide rate and T's and Blues related deaths noted in other aspects of this study.

Adult↗