The Word As Scalpel: A History of Medical Sociology Review

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(More customer reviews)"Sam Bloom has drawn on his own rich fifty year experience and his wise insights to provide an interpretation of historical events that intertwine the history of medical sociology with changes in medical science and education, with the changing economics, politics and practices of health care, with shifting social values, and with the changing nature, status and major concerns of sociology. It is a challenging task and Sam Bloom brings it off beautifully."
Robert Straus, Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky
"A richly documented, enlightening, masterly account of the diverse antecedents of medical sociology before and after World War II, with its eventual establishment as a formal sub-specialty of sociology. Fills a major gap in the history of the social sciences. Highly recommended for anyone interested in professionalization, sociology, and social science and medicine."
Rosemary A. Stevens, Professor of Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
"An illuminating, caring, and concerned work that not only provides knowledge and understanding of medical sociology as an intellectual discipline, but also of its interrelationship with the unfolding of medicine and medical education, and of health and illness in 20th century American society."
Renee C. Fox, Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
"As one of the key early leaders of the medical sociology field, Sam Bloom offers us a fascinating combination of institutional history and personal experience. We can feel ourselves in the rooms of universities, hospitals, medical schools, and government agencies where key studies were designed and new programs initiated."
Phil Brown, Professor of Sociology, Brown University
"This scholarly and deeply researched history of medical sociology will inform readers both within the field and interested observers. An essential basis for any future study of the field and a historical source unlikely to be surpassed."
David Mechanic, Professor of Behavioral Sciences, Rutgers University
"This extraordinary book by one of the nation's leading medical sociologists is more than an institutional history of a field. Rather it is an intellectual and personal voyage that illuminates the basis for a discipline and a roadmap for understanding the principles that under gird its members. Beautifully and clearly written."
David Rosner, Professor of History and Public Health, Columbia University

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"A doctor can damage a patient as much with a misplaced word as with a slip of the scalpel." In this statement, from Lawrence J. Henderson, a famous physician whose name is part of the basic science of medicine, epitomizes the central theme of The Word as Scalpel. If words, the main substance of human relations, are so potent for harm, how equally powerful they can be to help if used with disciplined knowledge and understanding.Nowhere does this simple truth apply more certainly than in the behavior of a physician. Medical Sociology studies the full social context of health and disease, the interpersonal relations, social institutions, and the influence of social factors on the problems of medicine. Throughout its history, medical sociology divides naturally into two parts: the pre-modern, represented by various studies of health and social problems in Europe and the United States until the second World War, and the modern post-war period. The modern period has seen rapid growth and the achievement of the full formal panoply of professionalism. This engaging account documents the development of professional associations, official journals, and programs of financial support, both private and governmental. Written by a distinguished pioneer in medical sociology, The Word as Scalpel is a definitive study of a relatively new, but critically important field.

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