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Medical care. Readings in the sociology of medical institutions
350
BOOKREVIE~VS
published as a limited edition of 2850. One must agree with KAZIMIERZKOZNIEWSKI* that it is “an internal bulletin for sociologists who have no contact with the factory or the health service, i.e., with the places they should mostly reach”. ANTONINAPILINOW.M.A. Center of Medical Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. SOCIOLOGIE
DES MALADIES MENTALES: par ROGER BASTIDE, Professeur B la Sorbonne, Directeur g l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Flammarion Edit&r, Paris, 1965, Vol. 1, 282~~. LE PROFESSEUR Bastide apporte dans cet ouvrage une Ctude extrCmement approfondie fondCe sur la liaison de la Sociologic et de la Psychiatric. L’ouvrage est extrtmement documentt et I’auteur a suivi de prl?s les diverses publications dans le monde entier, confrontCe s avec sa propre exp6rience dans son Centre de la Sorbonne et dans notre centre de Charenton dont il est avec nous un des co-directeurs du Centre de Psychiatric Sociale de 1’Ecole des Hautes Etudes. L’ouvrage itudie B fond les problkmes de m&hode en vue du dCveloppement d’une sociologic des maladies mentales, en passant d’Europe aux Etats Unis, les donnCes comparative des methodes statistiques, des “histoires de cas”, des recherches interdisciplinaires, de la mCthode expkrimentale. 11 discute egalement les caractitres distinctifs de l’ttat pathologique, depuis les conceptions organiastes jusqu’aux conceptions chimiques des psychoses et aux conceptions sociales et morales, et enfin il discute la possibilitC de psychoses atteignant les sociCti% elles-msmes. L’ouvrage consacre un chapitre important g l’Ccologie, 5 l’ttude de la repartition des maladies mentales suivant les Communes et les quartiers, & l’Ctude des communaut&, B l’Ctude des troubles mentaux suivant les catkgories professionnelles, ou en rapport avec la sociCtC industrielle, ou suivant les divers groupes religieux, ou encore suivant les groupes ethniques. Enfin l’ouvrage se termine par I’analyse des groupes sociaux, en particulier du groupe familial. En demier lieu l’ouvrage analyse la situation du fou dans la soci&C et il conclue que “la folie est chose essentiellement sociale, qu’elle relke done autant de l’analyse sociologique que de celle psychiatrique”. Ce tres beau livre B la fois si dense et si lumineux est extr@mement interkssant et intCresse au plus haut degrC les rapports de la science sociale et de la medecine. H. BARUK, M.D.
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. Maison Nationale de Charenton.
MEDICAL CARE. READINGS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. Edited by W. RICHARDScold and EDMUNDH. VOLKART.Wiley, New York, 1966 THE EDITORS,both sociologists who have been involved in the area of medical sociology, have compiled forty-one articles in this anthology which they regard as pertinent to “medical care and its social-institutional aspects”. This volume was originally planned to be one part of several similar anthologies which would encompass other aspects of medical *ThePhysicians’
Torments,
Polityka,
No.
19. 1966.
BOOK REVIEWS
351
sociology. All of the articles, some which of have been edited or condensed, are reprints from a wide variety of publications. The volume is divided into four parts: Varieties of Healers; Laymen and the Medical institution; Hospitals and Clinics; and Hospitals and the Community. Each part is preceded by an introduction of the editors and followed by annotated bibliographies of relevant works. Additional annotated bibliographies of a more general nature are included at the end of the volume along with a name and subject index. Space prevents presenting a more detailed description of the articles contained in this anthology. A heavy emphasis is placed upon cross-cultural studies drawn from a variety of anthropological studies ranging from American Indians to the Soviet physician, and should be of interest to the internationally-minded audience. This reviewer wonders what specific audience this volume was prepared for-medical students, sociologists, behavioral scientists, health researchers, public health practitioners, any one or all of them? While American medical students would gain some insight into their own healing role by understanding the divergences in the healing roles of other societies, it is doubtful that their perception would be enhanced by some of the articles included in this part of the book. While the book purports to present articles on the sociology of medical care, many of the articles could hardly be termed truly “sociological”, but draw from other social science fields as well as non-sociological sources and authors. Thus, while nearly all of the contents of such non-sociological articles may provide grist for the sociologist’s mill, their form and mode of presentation in many cases are not by any means sociologistic and would thus need re-interpretation in the sociological sense to support this claim of the editors. One of the major attractions of this book is the introductory passages to each section. SCOTT and VOLKART do in general an excellent job of introducing the material for each section and make a conceptual contribution in their own right. The annotated bibliographies are also informative, pertinent and useful to the reader who may wish to pursue many topics further. The selection of contributors and the delineation of the rubric “medical care” for a collection of papers such as this are matters of personal judgment on the part of the compilers. Others in the field of medical care may have selected different articles from some of those comprising this collection and perhaps would offer divergent phases of the medical care rubric than presented herein, whether from the sociological perspective or otherwise. For example, the concept of “medical care” itself is not thoroughly defined nor conceptually delineated in this volume. Some view the term “medicine” as a delimited construct that would not include non-medical (i.e., non M.D.) types of healers, such as faith-healers, witch-doctors, chiropractors, etc. Despite the cross-cultural component and orientation of much of this volume, the cross-cultural conception of and approach to health and medical care is not adequately presented, in this reviewer’s opinion. Such a conceptualization at the outset of the book would have helped the non-sociological reader to understand better this type of orientation and approach to the study of medical care in general. Nevertheless, this is a very useful collection of articles, exceptionally well introduced by the editors, despite some shortcomings perhaps due to space restrictions, and should be of interest to all students of medical and health care. E. GARTLY JACO, Ph.D. Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside
BOOKREVIE~VS
published as a limited edition of 2850. One must agree with KAZIMIERZKOZNIEWSKI* that it is “an internal bulletin for sociologists who have no contact with the factory or the health service, i.e., with the places they should mostly reach”. ANTONINAPILINOW.M.A. Center of Medical Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. SOCIOLOGIE
DES MALADIES MENTALES: par ROGER BASTIDE, Professeur B la Sorbonne, Directeur g l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Flammarion Edit&r, Paris, 1965, Vol. 1, 282~~. LE PROFESSEUR Bastide apporte dans cet ouvrage une Ctude extrCmement approfondie fondCe sur la liaison de la Sociologic et de la Psychiatric. L’ouvrage est extrtmement documentt et I’auteur a suivi de prl?s les diverses publications dans le monde entier, confrontCe s avec sa propre exp6rience dans son Centre de la Sorbonne et dans notre centre de Charenton dont il est avec nous un des co-directeurs du Centre de Psychiatric Sociale de 1’Ecole des Hautes Etudes. L’ouvrage itudie B fond les problkmes de m&hode en vue du dCveloppement d’une sociologic des maladies mentales, en passant d’Europe aux Etats Unis, les donnCes comparative des methodes statistiques, des “histoires de cas”, des recherches interdisciplinaires, de la mCthode expkrimentale. 11 discute egalement les caractitres distinctifs de l’ttat pathologique, depuis les conceptions organiastes jusqu’aux conceptions chimiques des psychoses et aux conceptions sociales et morales, et enfin il discute la possibilitC de psychoses atteignant les sociCti% elles-msmes. L’ouvrage consacre un chapitre important g l’Ccologie, 5 l’ttude de la repartition des maladies mentales suivant les Communes et les quartiers, & l’Ctude des communaut&, B l’Ctude des troubles mentaux suivant les catkgories professionnelles, ou en rapport avec la sociCtC industrielle, ou suivant les divers groupes religieux, ou encore suivant les groupes ethniques. Enfin l’ouvrage se termine par I’analyse des groupes sociaux, en particulier du groupe familial. En demier lieu l’ouvrage analyse la situation du fou dans la soci&C et il conclue que “la folie est chose essentiellement sociale, qu’elle relke done autant de l’analyse sociologique que de celle psychiatrique”. Ce tres beau livre B la fois si dense et si lumineux est extr@mement interkssant et intCresse au plus haut degrC les rapports de la science sociale et de la medecine. H. BARUK, M.D.
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. Maison Nationale de Charenton.
MEDICAL CARE. READINGS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. Edited by W. RICHARDScold and EDMUNDH. VOLKART.Wiley, New York, 1966 THE EDITORS,both sociologists who have been involved in the area of medical sociology, have compiled forty-one articles in this anthology which they regard as pertinent to “medical care and its social-institutional aspects”. This volume was originally planned to be one part of several similar anthologies which would encompass other aspects of medical *ThePhysicians’
Torments,
Polityka,
No.
19. 1966.
BOOK REVIEWS
351
sociology. All of the articles, some which of have been edited or condensed, are reprints from a wide variety of publications. The volume is divided into four parts: Varieties of Healers; Laymen and the Medical institution; Hospitals and Clinics; and Hospitals and the Community. Each part is preceded by an introduction of the editors and followed by annotated bibliographies of relevant works. Additional annotated bibliographies of a more general nature are included at the end of the volume along with a name and subject index. Space prevents presenting a more detailed description of the articles contained in this anthology. A heavy emphasis is placed upon cross-cultural studies drawn from a variety of anthropological studies ranging from American Indians to the Soviet physician, and should be of interest to the internationally-minded audience. This reviewer wonders what specific audience this volume was prepared for-medical students, sociologists, behavioral scientists, health researchers, public health practitioners, any one or all of them? While American medical students would gain some insight into their own healing role by understanding the divergences in the healing roles of other societies, it is doubtful that their perception would be enhanced by some of the articles included in this part of the book. While the book purports to present articles on the sociology of medical care, many of the articles could hardly be termed truly “sociological”, but draw from other social science fields as well as non-sociological sources and authors. Thus, while nearly all of the contents of such non-sociological articles may provide grist for the sociologist’s mill, their form and mode of presentation in many cases are not by any means sociologistic and would thus need re-interpretation in the sociological sense to support this claim of the editors. One of the major attractions of this book is the introductory passages to each section. SCOTT and VOLKART do in general an excellent job of introducing the material for each section and make a conceptual contribution in their own right. The annotated bibliographies are also informative, pertinent and useful to the reader who may wish to pursue many topics further. The selection of contributors and the delineation of the rubric “medical care” for a collection of papers such as this are matters of personal judgment on the part of the compilers. Others in the field of medical care may have selected different articles from some of those comprising this collection and perhaps would offer divergent phases of the medical care rubric than presented herein, whether from the sociological perspective or otherwise. For example, the concept of “medical care” itself is not thoroughly defined nor conceptually delineated in this volume. Some view the term “medicine” as a delimited construct that would not include non-medical (i.e., non M.D.) types of healers, such as faith-healers, witch-doctors, chiropractors, etc. Despite the cross-cultural component and orientation of much of this volume, the cross-cultural conception of and approach to health and medical care is not adequately presented, in this reviewer’s opinion. Such a conceptualization at the outset of the book would have helped the non-sociological reader to understand better this type of orientation and approach to the study of medical care in general. Nevertheless, this is a very useful collection of articles, exceptionally well introduced by the editors, despite some shortcomings perhaps due to space restrictions, and should be of interest to all students of medical and health care. E. GARTLY JACO, Ph.D. Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside