Abstract
SummaryBased on oral history interviews, medical literature, hospital newsletters, memoirs and news media, this article explores the ways in which ideals of socialism interacted with medical practice in polio care in 1950s Hungary. Through the everyday life of polio hospitals, it argues that the specific care that polio demanded from hospital staff, parents and children, resonated with state socialist political discourses of gender equality and the breakdown of class barriers and conventional hierarchies in medicine. Providing opportunities, as much as failing to fulfil expectations of patients, parents and medical staff, polio care simultaneously created socialist utopias and demonstrated the limits of political ideals.
Highlights
Based on oral history interviews, medical literature, hospital newsletters, memoirs and news media, this article explores the ways in which ideals of socialism interacted with medical practice in polio care in 1950s Hungary
Through the everyday life of polio hospitals, it argues that the specific care that polio demanded from hospital staff, parents and children, resonated with state socialist political discourses of gender equality and the breakdown of class barriers and conventional hierarchies in medicine
By the time I reached the end of the corridor, she was completely paralyzed.’1The onset of polio was always a dramatic process, for patients, children and health workers alike
Summary
TITLE Socialist utopia in practice: everyday life and medical authority in a Hungarian polio hospital AUTHORS Vargha, D JOURNAL Social History of Medicine DEPOSITED IN ORE 29 November 2017. COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. You are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication. Socialist Utopia in Practice: Everyday Life and Medical Authority in a Hungarian Polio Hospital
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Social history of medicine : the journal of the Society for the Social History of Medicine
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
