"Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledge and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural effects of medical practice."
It examines social factors, such as class, gender, race, or ethnicity, that affect health status and access to healthcare.
Sociological Perspectives on Health and Illness: An introduction to the various sociological perspectives on health and illness, including functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.
Social Determinants of Health: An exploration of the social factors that contribute to health outcomes, such as socioeconomic status, access to healthcare, and environmental factors.
Health Behavior: A study of the individual and social factors that influence health behaviors, including health beliefs, attitudes, and practices.
Medicalization: An analysis of the social and cultural processes through which certain conditions and behaviors come to be defined as medical problems.
Patient-Provider Relationship: An examination of the dynamics between patients and healthcare providers, including issues of trust, communication, and power.
Socialization of Physicians: A study of the socialization process that medical students undergo and how this process shapes their attitudes and behaviors as physicians.
Healthcare Systems: An overview of the various healthcare systems around the world and the social factors that influence their development and function.
Healthcare Disparities: An exploration of the unequal distribution of healthcare resources and outcomes across different populations, including those based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Global Health: An examination of the social, economic, and political factors that contribute to health outcomes at a global level, including issues of inequality and access to healthcare.
Health Policy: A study of the policies and laws that govern healthcare practices and institutions, and their impact on health outcomes and equity.
Health and Technology: An analysis of the role of technology in healthcare practices, including issues of access, privacy, and ethics.
"The field commonly interacts with the sociology of knowledge, science and technology studies, and social epistemology."
"Medical sociologists are also interested in the qualitative experiences of patients, often working at the boundaries of public health, social work, demography, and gerontology to explore phenomena at the intersection of the social and clinical sciences."
"Health disparities commonly relate to typical categories such as class and race."
"Lawrence J Henderson and Talcott Parsons are among the early contributors. Parsons applied social role theory to interactional relations between sick people and others."
"Eliot Freidson took a conflict theory perspective, looking at how the medical profession secures its own interests."
"Key contributors to medical sociology since the 1950s include Howard S. Becker, Mike Bury, Peter Conrad, Jack Douglas, Eliot Freidson, David Silverman, Phil Strong, Bernice Pescosolido, Carl May, Anne Rogers, Anselm Strauss, Renee Fox, and Joseph W. Schneider."
"The field of medical sociology is usually taught as part of a wider sociology, clinical psychology, or health studies degree course, or on dedicated master's degree courses where it is sometimes combined with the study of medical ethics and bioethics."
"In Britain, sociology was introduced into the medical curriculum following the Goodenough report in 1944. The introduction of 'social' factors into medical explanation was most strongly evidenced in branches of medicine closely related to the community - Social Medicine and, later, General Practice."
"Objective sociological research findings quickly become a normative and political issue."
"The sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions examines the production of knowledge and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural effects of medical practice."
"Medical sociology interacts with the sociology of knowledge, science and technology studies, and social epistemology."
"Medical sociologists often work at the boundaries of public health, social work, demography, and gerontology, exploring phenomena at the intersection of the social and clinical sciences."
"Lawrence J Henderson's theoretical interests in the work of Vilfredo Pareto inspired Talcott Parsons' interests in sociological systems theory."
"Health disparities commonly relate to typical categories such as class and race."
"Medical sociologists are interested in the qualitative experiences of patients."
"Eliot Freidson took a conflict theory perspective, looking at how the medical profession secures its own interests."
"Medical sociology is sometimes combined with the study of medical ethics and bioethics."
"The introduction of 'social' factors into medical explanation was most strongly evidenced in branches of medicine closely related to the community - Social Medicine and, later, General Practice."
"Objective sociological research findings quickly become a normative and political issue."