Teaching Medical Sociology to Graduate Students in Sociology: A Three-Year Experience

Abstract

The object of this paper is to give a systematic account of a training program in medical sociology, explicitly and exclusively designed for graduate students in sociology. Anyone who in some way or other is familiar with the international sociological scene, as expressed in congresses, symposia, professional journals, readers and other publications, cannot escape the impression that we are dealing here with a highly underdeveloped area. Training in medical sociology is indeed given some attention, but this bears chiefly on methodology, strategy and the development of medical sociology teaching for the benefit of other professional groups, especially medical doctors, nurses, public health officers, social workers, etc. Medical sociologists often have to be content with the statement that a sound and comprehensive academic training in general sociology should sufficiently guarantee the development of competent medical sociologists. Freeman, Levine and Reeder [1] comment on this as follows: “If there is merit in our position that medical sociology is a speciality defined substantively and with theoretical and conceptual roots in general sociology, it follows that medical sociologists must be well trained and competent general sociologists. Sociologists vary in their opinions of the importance of field training to the educational process, but it is doubtful whether any would contest that familiarity with the settings in which they are to work is not useful. A familiarity with the medical field, in one way or another, is essential to the development of the medical sociologist.”