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Handbook of the Sociology of Medical Education


Caragh Brosnan, Bryan S. Turner


Published February 21, 2012
Reference - 320 Pages - 1 B/W Illustrations
ISBN 9780415534185 - CAT# Y137039

Published July 28, 2009
Reference - 306 Pages - 1 B/W Illustrations
ISBN 9780415460446 - CAT# Y001006













The Handbook of the Sociology of Medical Education provides a contemporary introduction to this classic area of sociology by examining the social origin and implications of the epistemological, organizational and demographic challenges facing medical education in the twenty-first century.

Beginning with reflections on the historical and theoretical foundations of the sociology of medical education, the collection then focuses on current issues affecting medical students, the profession and the faculty, before exploring medical education in different national contexts.

Leading sociologists analyze: the intersection of medical education and social structures such as gender, ethnicity and disability; the effect of changes in medical practice, such as the emergence of evidence-based medicine, on medical education; and the ongoing debates surrounding the form and content of medical curricula. By examining applied problems within a framework which draws from social theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu, this new collection suggests future directions for the sociological study of medical education and for medical education itself.


1. Introduction: The Struggle over Medical Knowledge, Caragh Brosnan and Bryan S. Turner  PART 1: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES 2. The Hidden Curriculum: A Theory of Medical Education, Frederic W. Hafferty and Brian Castellani 3. From Classification to Integration: Bernstein and the Sociology of Medical Education, Paul Atkinson and Sara Delamont 4. Pierre Bourdieu and the Theory of Medical Education: Thinking ‘Relationally’ about Medical Students and Medical Curricula, Caragh Brosnan  PART 2: KEY ISSUES: MEDICAL STUDENTS AND MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE 5. The Medical School Culture, Heidi Lempp 6. Gender and Medical Education, Elianne Riska 7. The Inclusion of Disabled People in Medical Education, Gary L. Albrecht 8. The Status of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Biomedical Education: Towards a Critical Engagement, Alex Broom and Jon Adams 9. Evidence-based Medicine and Medical Education, Stefan Timmermans and Neetu Chawla 10. Crisis or Renaissance? A Sociology of Anatomy in UK Medical Education, Samantha Regan de Bere and Alan Petersen 11. Bioethics and Medical Education: Lessons from the United States, Carla C. Keirns, Michael Fetters and Raymond De Vries 12. Sociology in Medical Education, Graham Scambler 13. Epistemology, Medical Science, and Problem-based Learning: Introducing an Epistemological Dimension into the Medical School Curriculum, Margot L. Lyon  PART 3: MEDICAL EDUCATION IN NATIONAL CONTEXTS 14. Medical Education and the American Healthcare System, William C. Cockerham 15. Tomorrow’s Doctors, a Changing Profession: Reformation in the UK Medical Education System, Oonagh Corrigan and Ian Pinchen 16. The Challenges to Achieving Self-sufficiency in Canadian Medical Education, Ivy Lynn Bourgeault and Jennifer Aylward 17. Innovations in Medical Education: European Convergence, Politics and Culture, Fred C.J. Stevens


Caragh Brosnan is a Research Fellow in Sociology and Communications at Brunel University. She completed her doctoral thesis, 'The Sociology of Medical Education: the struggle for legitimate knowledge in two English medical schools', at the University of Cambridge in 2007.

Bryan S. Turner was Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge (1998-2005) and at the National University of Singapore (2005-2009). He is currently the Alona Evans Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College, US. He has published The New Medical Sociology (2004) and The Body and Society (2008).


''Much has changed in both medical sociology and medical education since the classic studies of the 1950s. Brosnan and Turner's distinguished team of international scholars reinvigorate the sociological contribution to debates about what sorts of doctors we need and how medical schools can best produce them.''..................Robert Dingwall, Professor and Director Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham, UK

''Sociological research has a long and proud tradition in studying medical education. Brosnan and Turner provide a great service by bringing together for the first time an outstanding array of international sociological experts focusing on issues related to medical education. This book is destined to be a benchmark in the study of medical education and a valuable contribution to medical sociology. I recommend it highly.''.........................Peter Conrad, Harry Coplan Professor of Social Sciences, Brandeis University, USA

''This fine collection of essays takes a niche in sociology that has been gathering dust in the dark, shines light on it, and gives it a careful cleaning. Medical education is a crucible for understanding a phenomenon of enduring importance, professionalization, and for the resolution of contested topics in our society, such as gender and disability. This volume updates a fundamental set of inquiries that were at the core of sociology half a century ago, and, as promised, it broadens the theoretical foundation and empirical reach of the field.

This is not your father's medical profession: there are women everywhere, bioethics is an explicit part of the curriculum, chronic disease is rife, as is complementary and alternative medicine, and the profession is increasingly wed to a philosophy, 'evidence based medicine,' that would seem to subvert some of its key tenets, such as clinical judgement and patient distinctiveness. All this and more are carefully considered and integrated by the essays in this volume into a new framework that will be of interest to those who study or administer the training of physicians, and those who wonder where the medical profession is and where it is going.''.........Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University and Professor of Medical Sociology at Harvard Medical School, USA

'This is a splendid book. Brosnan and Turner have assembled a state of the art overview of the sociology of medical education which will stimulate further research on this important dynamic domain."..........Steven Wainwright, Professor and Co-Director Centre for Biomedicine & Society (CBAS), King's College London, UK


