TY - JOUR
T1 - Pragmatism and medical sociology
T2 - Three precepts
AU - Brown, Eliza
AU - Tavory, Iddo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - While medical sociology has long incorporated insights from pragmatist philosophy, recent contributions call for a more explicit engagement with this tradition. Complementing Greenhalgh and Engebretsen's (2022) call for a pragmatist analysis of public health policymaking and crisis, we systemize medical sociology's engagement with pragmatism. We suggest three precepts of pragmatist philosophy as they relate to medical sociology: First, a focus on consequences in action, or understanding medical phenomena through what is done rather than established definitions; Second, problem solving, or how medical actors move between habit and creativity; And third, negotiation of meaning, or analyzing patient-provider communication through ongoing action and interpretation. Such systematization, we argue, would enrich both new and existing topics in medical sociology, from medicalization to mask-wearing.
AB - While medical sociology has long incorporated insights from pragmatist philosophy, recent contributions call for a more explicit engagement with this tradition. Complementing Greenhalgh and Engebretsen's (2022) call for a pragmatist analysis of public health policymaking and crisis, we systemize medical sociology's engagement with pragmatism. We suggest three precepts of pragmatist philosophy as they relate to medical sociology: First, a focus on consequences in action, or understanding medical phenomena through what is done rather than established definitions; Second, problem solving, or how medical actors move between habit and creativity; And third, negotiation of meaning, or analyzing patient-provider communication through ongoing action and interpretation. Such systematization, we argue, would enrich both new and existing topics in medical sociology, from medicalization to mask-wearing.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185258190&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85185258190&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116640
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116640
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 38359526
AN - SCOPUS:85185258190
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 345
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 116640
ER -