Medical Sociology in the 21st Century: A Birth and Philosophical Development

Abstract

Medical sociology can trace its historical roots to the late eighteenth and the early periods of the nineteenth century. The academic discipline involves two embryonic fields, sociology and allopathic medicine, which began to cross paths in the declining period of the eighteenth century in small but significant ways. In the first three decades of the twentieth century, medical sociology was identified first, as a part of the field of social work and later with the field of public health. However, this philosophy began to change during the 1930s and the 1940s when the inter-relations between society and health became of interest to sociologists. Consequently, the study examined a deeper understanding of the birth, history and philosophical development of medical sociology. It highlighted the changes in philosophical development of medical sociology before and after the first and Second World Wars. The study adopted the theory of professionalism. The study recommended that medical sociologist and physicians should engage in more communal research to exchange ideas in their areas of competences to improve on the applications of social context of health and health care and to further solidify the status and prospects of the field in Nigeria.