Introduction: the struggle over medical knowledge

From the first emergence of medical sociology in the 1950s, medical education enjoyed a central place on its research agenda (Rafferty 2000: 239), beginning with the publication of Robert Merton et al. 's (1957) The Student-Physician: introductory studies in the sociology of medical education. The sociology of medical education had emerged, Merton explained, owing to a number of developments within medical education itself: the need to incorporate the expansion of scientific knowledge within limited curricular time; the renewed focus on treating 'the patient as a person' and the sense that sociology, though not well understood within the medical profession, could play a role in developing this aspect of practice; the development of systematic research into medical education; and innovations in medical curricula. Simultaneously, sociology was beginning to focus on the professions, organizations and adult socialization processes, and was developing social-scientific research methods (Merton et al. 1957). The Student-Physician aimed to showcase some early work applying sociological methods to the study of medical education