What Is Medical Sociology?

A branch of sociology that studies the social relationships, social functions, and relationships of society with patients, doctors, medical staff, and healthcare institutions. It is formed by the infiltration of sociology and medicine, including medical sociology, health sociology, health sociology, health and patient sociology, medicine and patient sociology, medical sociology, society in medicine Learn different names.

Medical sociology

A branch of sociology that studies the social relationships, social functions, and relationships of society with patients, doctors, medical staff, and healthcare institutions. It is formed by the infiltration of sociology and medicine, including medical sociology, health sociology, health sociology, health and patient sociology, medicine and patient sociology, medical sociology, society in medicine Learn different names.

Chinese name

Medical sociology

Time

1894

First proposed

C. McIntyre

Definition

Science that studies the relationship between medical professions and humans

Medical sociology is a science that uses sociological theories and methods to study social roles, role relationships, role behaviors, role flows, interactions between medical social organizations, and the interaction between the medical field and the entire society and its changing laws. .

Its research contents include: the general principles and methods of sociology, theoretical research in medical sociology, research on the interaction between medical progress and social culture, and sociology research in specific medical fields.

Medical sociology has developed in two directions: one is that medical sociologists are trying to clarify many social background issues related to health care, medical and medical professions; the other is that another group of sociologists has actually begun to become medical schools , They began to teach or engage in research on the etiology of the disease, and attitudes and behavioral factors that affect health and disease.

A clear interest among medical sociologists is the relationship between social class and disease.

In 1894, American medical scientist C. McIntyre published a paper entitled "The Significance of Medical Sociology Research". He first proposed the concept of "Sociology of Medicine", which he defined as: "It is the physicians themselves as a specific group The science of studying similar social phenomena is the science of studying the relationship between the medical profession and human society in general. " In 1902, the sociology of medicine edited by the British doctor Dr. E. Blackwell collected some papers on social work and public health. In 1910, J. Wabas' "Sociology of Medicine" was published. The book proposed a number of reforms in medicine, with special emphasis on health education. During the first 30 years of the 20th century, the term medical sociology mainly referred to social work in medicine. After the 1930s, especially in the 1950s, some sociologists in the United States entered the medical field, and medical sociology has made great progress. In 1957, the American medical sociologist Strauss published the article "The Nature and State of Medical Sociology" in the "American Sociology Review", which classified medical sociology into: sociology in medicine. It focuses on analyzing the causes of health disorders, differences in social attitudes to health, and the relationship between factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, race and tribe, education level, and occupation for the emergence and prevalence of a specific health disorder. The research purpose is mainly to solve medical problems. Sociology of Medicine. It mainly studies the human behavior factors such as organization, role relationship, norms, values and beliefs in medical practice, focuses on the social process in the medical field, and helps people understand the relationship between medicine and society. Since the 1950s, research in medical sociology has developed rapidly. In 1960, the number of people engaged in medical sociology research in the United States increased from more than ten before World War II to hundreds. Between 1950 and 1959, the number of practitioners in medical sociology increased from those in other branches of sociology The percentage must be large. The more influential British book "Sociology of Medicine in the UK: A Directory of Research and Teaching" (3rd edition, 1978), which includes the situation of 260 medical sociologists in the UK since 1970, and introduces about 500 ongoing research projects And about 100 courses in medical sociology offered by universities and medical schools. In the Soviet Union, dozens of monographs on medical sociology have been published since the 1960s. Among them, "Social Issues in Medical Care" by Chalegorodtsev, and "Sociology of Medicine" by Izutkin, etc. have had a greater impact. . Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary have also conducted teaching and research in medical sociology. Japan established the Society for Health and Medical Sociology in 1977 and publishes a volume of thesis every year.

The main research contents of medical sociology are: roles in the medical field, mainly doctors, nurses, patients and other roles; role behaviors, including seeking behavior, practice behavior, compliance behavior, etc .; role relationships, including doctor-patient relationship , Medical relations, medical care relations, nursing care relations, patient relations, etc., as well as role organization, role mobility and role change. The interaction of medicine and various social factors, such as the relationship between medicine and politics, medicine and military, medicine and economics, medicine and culture, medicine and religion. The organizational structure, service forms and social utility of different types of health care institutions.

Medical sociology is mainly the use of sociology and

The rise of medical sociology as a discipline in China began with the "Medical Sociology Research Group" established at the first National Medical Dialectics Symposium held in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in December 1981, and subsequently published an internal communication journal " Medical Sociology Research Newsletter. At the first annual meeting of the Chinese Society of Social Sciences in May 1982, the Medical Sociology Research Group was accepted by the Chinese Society of Social Sciences. In August 1982, the "Medicine Sociology Recent Work Planning Meeting" was held in Jingbo Lake, Heilongjiang Province. In August 1983, the "First National Medical Sociology Workshop" was held in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. In August 1984, the first academic seminar on medical sociology was held in Beidaihe, Hebei Province. Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places have also established medical sociology research groups and carried out some special studies. Columns in Medicine and Philosophy, Chinese Hospital Management, and Chinese Social Medicine publish articles on medical sociology. Some higher medical schools have successively offered courses in medical sociology. In 1983, Taiwan published "Sociology of Medicine" co-authored by Lan Caifeng and Liao Rongli; in 1985, China Hospital Management Magazine published "Introduction to Medical Sociology" edited by Liu Zongxiu and Ruan Fangfu; in 1986, published by Guangxi People's Publishing House The "Sociology of Medicine" edited by Cai Jianzhang; in 1987, Shanghai People's Publishing House published the "Sociology of Medicine" co-authored by H. Chavante, Cai Yongmei, Liu Zongxiu, and Ruan Fang. ^[1]