The use of quantitative medical sociology

Mapping the field of medical sociology: a comparative analysis of journals

A comparative keyword analysis of the content of nine leading journals is used to suggest potential new directions for medical sociology. The major British and American journals in sociology and medical sociology tend to publish authors based in their own countries, contrasting with the internationalism of other social science disciplines relevant to health, although Sociology of Health and Illness is an exception to this. Medical sociology journals on both sides of the Atlantic focus on individual experience more than general sociology journals, which focus more on social systems levels of analysis. While journal contents reveal British medical sociology to be relatively atheoretical when compared with British general sociology journals, American medical sociology appears relatively apolitical on the same comparison with American general journals. American journals of sociology publish more quantitative studies than their British equivalents, more studies concerning race and other social divisions in American society, and less work drawing on social constructionist perspectives or that is engaged with social theory. Analysis of health and health care at societal and global levels and a deeper engagement with the political and public issues that concern non-sociologists represents a possible future for a medical sociology that is internationally relevant and outward looking.

The development of medical sociology in the post-Soviet society: the case of Lithuania

This article explores the historical development of medical sociology and analyses the social problems that have had impacted the changes of health care institutionalization particularly in Lithuania during the Soviet and post-soviet period. Approaching the interaction between sociology and public health sciences, it is intended to apply the concept of medical sociology and its determinants in the context of health care and education systems. By analyzing the case past of medical sociology in Lithuania, we claim that its prospects should be associated with the study of new challenges in the biomedical sciences. In order to improve the importance of medical sociology in developing democracies we should focus on the questions, for instance, to what extent modern biotechnologies should be applied, how to improve the situation with patients' rights, and how to combine the knowledge of social sciences and biomedicine in order to improve the quality of healthcare services and to ensure better functioning of the healthcare system in particular district.