Читать книгу The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology - Группа авторов - Страница 40

The notion that medical sociology is atheoretical is wrong. This chapter has provided a brief account of the history and variety of viewpoints in sociological theory that have been utilized within the field and provided influential statements on the relationship between society and health. Beginning with Parsons, medical sociology in reality has a rich theoretical tradition spanning almost 70 years and incorporating the work of both classical and contemporary theorists. Debates in general sociology, such as those involving the opposition of symbolic interactionists and conflict theorists to structural-functionalism and the agency versus structure dispute, became points of theoretical contention in medical sociology as well. During the latter part of the twentieth century, structural theories like structural-functionalism were largely abandoned in favor of agency oriented theories like symbolic interaction, labeling theory, and the agency side of social constructionism. However, improved statistical techniques to measure the effects of structure – such as hierarchical linear modeling – forecast a paradigm shift back to greater considerations of structure and structural approaches to theory. Although it is too early to determine the ultimate direction of theory in medical sociology this century with exact precision, these improved statistical procedures should provide a more comprehensive approach to research with theory guiding and adjusting to this capability. Already the theoretical basis for work in the field is extensive and its potential explanatory power is likely to increase. Medical sociology has become a theoretical subdiscipline.