Sociology news is published by the Medical Sociology Group‚ a study group cf the Eritish Sociological Association Subscription rates for 1987-88

use

tesearch for

purposes

of

social engineering

(Popper)

or

to

‘en1ighten' administrators have been criticiscd

as elitist.

The current fashion is

to

apply

research to

a j d

people at

the ‘qrass roots'.

we

see this in feminism and in

attempts to work with

self-help

groups.

In

turn‚ this

has

been

criticised for

an

over-simplified view

of

the

link between

knowledge and

power

(Foucau1t‚

Arney

3

Bergen).

Speakers will examine

such

issues in the light

of

their

own

field

research

in

a

wide range

of

institutional settings.

A

combination

of

lectures and workshops is planned.

Numbers

are limited.

Prices will include lunch and will

be

reduced for

students,

UB40s etc.

If

you are interested in

attending

please

write

to:

David

Silverman‚

Sociology

Department‚

Goldsmiths' Colleqe,

London

SE14 6Nw

a.s.a.p.

Joint

Conference

orqanizers:

Jaber

Gubrium (University

of

Florida, Gainesville)

and David Silverman (University

of

Goldsmiths' College).

48

.Meetings

at the

Wellcome

Institute for the

History of

Hedicine

(a)

Research

Seminars

* 12

January

The

syriac Background

to

Humayn's

Translation

Technigues

Dr.

Sebastian

Brock

" 1 3 January

The

Military Solution

to Plague :

Venetian

Poficy in Fruili

1598-1714

Dr.

Richard

Palmer

'

26

January

Hibatallan

Ibn Gumay's History

of

Medicine.

TBe Risala as-sala

hixxa

Dr.

Paül

Fenton

" 2 7

January

The Leipzig Disputation

as

Syphilis

,

Dr. Roger

French

'

Meetings

held

at

4.30 pm

in

the

Seminar Room

(2nd

Floor)

183, Euston Road‚ NH1.

**Meetings

held

at

5.30—7.00

pm in

the

Seminar Room

(Znd Floor)

183

Euston

Road‚

Nwl.

( b )

Sxmgosia

* 26 February

Medicine

and

War

* 22 April

The

Medical

History of

Haters

and Spas

*

13

May

Historx

of

Patholggx

'

To

be

held

at

183,

Euston

Road‚

NH1.

Please

contact the

Secretary of

the Academic Unit

(O1—387

4477

x

3 2 5 3 )

for

further details.

49

Rescarch

For Health

For

All

On

the final day of this year's

BSA

Mcdical Sociology

Conference‚

a

workshop on "Rescarch for

Health

for

All“

(RHFA)

was convened

by Meg

Stacey.

Onc

purpose

of

the workshop

was

to let lnterested

members

of

the

qroup

know about

the

WHO

initlative

on RHFA, which aims

to

promote

research

appropriate

to wH0's

Health for

All"

(HFA)

targets.

Another purpose was

to

see what input

Group

members

wished to

offer to the

developing

programme

of

research policy.

The

workshop was

rather

small

but discussion

was

lively and wide-ranging, and

a

small workinq group aqreed to meet again

in

Edinburgh.

Discussion at

the workinq

qroup

meetinq

( h o l d

on 28

O c t o b e r )

centred

around

two

doCuments:-

1.

The HHO Regional Office

{ o r

Europe

document

on

RHFA;

and

2.

A

commentary on this initiative

by

Hannu

Vuori,

Chief‚

Research

promotion and

Development

at

the

Regional

Office

( ' w H 0

--

A

source

of

inspiration for

researchers? Scand.

J.

Soc. Med.‚ 15:57-61,

1 9 8 7 )

The

major

theme

of

these

documents

was that

WHO

now

intends

to

take

on

the role of

stimulating research

as woll

as service

and

tochnical developments in pursuit

of

its

health targots.

In

particu1ar‚ five

areas

of

priority

were

established:

A.

Health

policy and organlsational

behaviour;

B.

Inequities in

health:

C.

Community participation and intersectoral

collaborationl

D.

Development

of

information

systems

and

indicators

related to the targets; and

E.

International

collaborative

studies (particularly

of

health

care

systems).

It

seems that

there

is

now

an

opportunlty

to

increase

communication

and

collaboration

between

those

members of

the

Medical Sociology group whose research is relevant to the

achievement

of

HFA

and

those involved in

such

activities

es

community

health

initiatives

and

health planning.

In

particu1ar‚

this

might

be

the

time

to promote

the

development

of

such collaboration

on

a

regional basis.

Developing

reqional

netwotks

could

begin to establish

a

form

of

practice

which

facilitates

both Lhe communication of

felt

needs

to

researchers and of new knowledqe to

consumers

and other

partlcipants in policy

discussion

and implementation

Hannu Vuori's

paper

explicitly reminds

us

Chat wHO's

constitution "charges the organisation with the promotion

of

rcsearch

and co—operation among scientific and professional

groups”.

However‚

it

also reminds

us

that the

HHO

is

NOT a

fundinq

agency.

Target

32

of

the

8

objectives

adopted

by

the

Regional Committee in

1984

requosts

memher

states

to producc

national research stratnqies in

Support

of

HFA.

The Medical

Soclology Group may wish to ask major

UK funding aqonCies‚

both

within

and

outside

governmont‚

to

rlarify

thnir

rosponses to

this

agrned policy.

A

national

RHFA

policy

would

take

euch tarqet and

carry

out

a

series of

steps:

1.

Ask

whether it

has

been achieved.

2.

If

so.

perhaps

carry out a

policy analysis in

order

to

beqin

to

establish

models

of

successful

practice.

This

would

accord

wich priority

A

above.

3.

If

the

target has

not

been

achieved,

research

will be

necessary

to

discover

the

cause of

failure.

this may

encompass...

4.

...Investigation of

the

incidence, prevalence

and

aetiology the

health

problem.

5.

Sociological and organisational studies

to clarify

why

the problem is

not

being

appropriately

dealt

with

(for

examp1e‚

inaccessibility

of

unacceptability of

preventive

s e r v i c e s ) .

In

the

case

of

class and

racial

inequities in hea1th‚ steps might

be

considered

unnecessary

and

the choice would

be

for

policy

studies

to explain

why

well-established

understanding does not‚

in

some cases‚

lead

to policy action

(which

would

meet

priorities

A

and

B

a b o v e ) .

In

the

case

of

gender

inequities

there

may

be

a

need

for

the development of

better indicators of

inequity

through

collaboration

with

women's

groups

active

around

health

issues

(meeting

priorities

C

and

D shown

above).

WHO

sees the

RHFA

document

as

an

opening

towards

the

research

community.

It

is

a

neu departure‚

which

raises difficult

issues related to

the independence

of

researchers

and

the riqht

of

scientific speciality groups to

determine their

own

agendas

and criteria of

excellence.

But

WHO

asks

only that the

research

community

take note

of

RHFA

and regard it

wich an open

mind.

Futthermore‚

such objectives as increasing community

participation in the definition of

health

problems

and

in

planning steps

to

overcome

them‚

as

well

as reduction if

inequity‚ have long been

valued

by many

in the field

of

medical

sociology.

With

these

points in mind‚

the

working

qroup will convene a

workshop and information exchange on

5th

March 1988

at

Aston

Universitx.

Further details can

be

o

ta1ne

rom:

Mike

Ke11y‚

Department

of Community Medicine

University of Glasgow,

2 Lilybank

Gardens‚

Glasgow G12

900.

51

Conference

Rcgort

Teaching

Behavioural

Sciences in

Medicine

and

Dentistry

A

conference

was

held in Glasgow

from Ist-3rd

September

on

the

topic of

teaching

behavioural sciences

in medicine and

dentistry‚

( t h e

term

'behavioura1

sciences'‚

although

not

liked

by

everyone

passed without

comment

over

the

two

days).

The

conference‚

a follow-up to that held in

Leeds two years

ago,

attracted about seventy

a t t e n d e r s ‚

with

a

qreater

proportion

of

psychologists

than

sociologists, and

an

interested

group

of

dentists.

There

were several aims to

the Conference.

The

first was

to

review

proqress

in teachinq behavioural sciences

in

medical

and dental

schools.

Teaching hours, types

of

courses‚ and their

orientation‚

content of

teaching

(our

image

as socio1ogists‚ teachinq 'po1itical'

i s s u e s )

were

all

recurrent

topics.

It

quickly became

apparent that there

was

considerably

more

hours

allocated

to

the teaching of

psycho1ogy‚ but for

everyone‚

there

was

a

feeling

that

our lot

within

medical

schools

had improved.

A

discussion

of

the

innovation of behavioural

sciences teaching on the

dental

curricula

was

new

on the agenda‚ although (again) the bias

was

towards psycholoqy.

There

is

no

doubt

that such

a

gathering

re-establishes

contact with

others in the fie1d‚

an

important

function‚

especially for those who work

in

isolation.

A

final,

and

more ptactical goal

of

the

conference

was

that

we

should discuss

ways of

developinq strategies for strengthening

our

position within medical

( a n d d e n t a l )

schools.

The timinq

of

the

conference

was propitious‚

for

only months

previously the

CMC

produced a document in which our problem as

teachers in

these

subjects had been sympathetically spelled

out.

On

the final day, Lhe details

of

teaching courses were

set aside

to

listen to

representatives

from

the

GMC‚

the

GDC

and the UCG.

The tone was optimism tinged wich

fear:

few

can

predict the

development

of

Universities

over the

next

decade‚

and behavioural scientists are‚

by

their

own

admission‚ not

necessarily strong

players

in

the field.

what emerqed

was

that continuing to form links (through joint teaching or joint

r e s e a r c h )

with

the

more powerful

( c l i n i c a l )

members

in

the

faculty

was

a

strategy which might

not

only protect us within

the medical and dental

schools

in the.future‚ but might also

help

us

to

achieve qreater credibility with

the

students.

At

the

end

of

the Conference it

was agreed that we

should

meet

again in

two

years

time‚

and that

a mailing list

should

bc

drawn up

so that

the

qroup

could

be

circulated

with

information

about the

next

conference.

and

also

other

items of

relevance to

our work.

If

anyone

who did not attend the

conference

would

like

to have their names

put

down

on

the mailing

list‚

please

contact

Magqie

Pearson

at

thc Department

of

General

PracLicc‚

University

of

Liverpool, P.O.

Box

147.

Liverpool, as

she

is

in

Charge

of

the list.

Marqaret

R e i d ‚

University

of

Glasqow.

52

BSA

Medical

Sociology

Regional

Groups

There

are six regional

groups.

are given below:

Bristol

and South

west

1

Nick Fox‚

15

Regent Street‚

C1ifton‚

Bristol,

B58

4HW

London

Ulla Gustafsson,

31

Hillfield Avenue‚

London N8

7DS.

North—East

Malcolm Co11edge‚

School of

Behavioural Science,

Newcastle

Upon Tyne

Polytechnic,

Northumberland

Bui1ding‚

Northumberland Road,

Newcast1e—Upon—Tyne NE1 BST.

The

names and

addresses

of

contacts

North—West

Gareth

Wi11iams‚

ARC

Epidemiological Research

Unit

Stopford Building‚

Oxford Road‚

Manchester

M13 9PT

Scotland

Margaret Reid‚

Dept. of Community Medicine,

University

of

Glasgow,

2

Lilybank Gardens

Glasgow, G12

8QQ

Wales

Herman

Gilligan,

Institute of

Health

Care

Studies

University

College

of

Swansea‚

Singleton Park,

Swansea‚ SA2 BPP.

News from

the Grougs

Wales Medical

Sociology Group

2

February

Research

Psychological

Measures

in Health

Care

Dr. Mark Cook, University College

of

Swansea.

1 March

Ethical

Issues

in Health

Care

Research

Brigit Dimond, Polytechnic

of

Wales.

Both meetings will

be

held

at

2 pm in the North Arts

Building, University

Colleqe

of

Swansea.

London

Medical

Sociologx

Groug

PROGRAMME

for 1988

Everyone

is

welcome to attend

LMSG

meetings

-

the

group has no

formal

membership.

At

each

meeting

there

is

a presentation

by

a

speaker

-

often

about work in

progress

-

followed

by

discussion.

To

help

meet

speakers' traveliing

expenses‚ those

who

attend

meetings

are

asked to

contribute 25p each.

January

20

Policing

the

Hentaliy

Disordered: an

examination

of psychiatric

referrals

from

t h e

police.

Anne Rogers,

Universxty

of Nottinqham

February 17

A

Life

Course

Perspcctive on

Health

Inequalities

Mike Wadsworth‚

MRC

National

Survey of Hcalth

G

Deve1opment‚

London.

'

March

16

Aping the "Honstrous

Males"

?

Women

in medicine

and

the

vivisection

controversy‚ 1875-1912.

Mary

Ann

Elston, Bedford

G

Holloway

New

College/UCL,London

April 20

Drinking

Controlled:

health

promotion as

social

re ulation

Robin Bunten, co—ordinator‚

Alcohol

Concern,

waies

May

25

Quality

Contro1‚

Evaluation

and

the

Commodification cf

the

Bodx

Lyndsay

Pr1or‚

University

of

Ulster

June 22

Homens'

Accounts

of Gynaecological