Key Sociologists and Concepts in Medical Sociology

John Snow

Father of epidemiology and public health

Emile Durkheim

Established 2D axis of regulation vs. integration - social forces binding individuals to society

C. Wright Mills

Introduced the concept of 'sociological imagination', linking biography and history, “cheerful robots”

Phil Brown

Explored the interplay of micro/meso/macro levels; social constructions of illness

Olafsdottir

Distinguished between disease and illness, stigma and deviance with medical conditions

Genton

Differentiated between acute vs. chronic conditions (reflexivity of sick role)

Davenport

Contrasted medical gaze (dehumanizing) vs. witnessing (actually seeing)

Johnson

Described how marginalized groups dynamically accept and reject medical definitions and pathologizing trans 'condition' (paradoxical)

Conrad

Discussed medicalization as social control

McGinnis and Foege

Identified changing causes of death and upstream reasons as to why

Daniel

Examined limitations and food deserts

Ferlander

Explored forms of social capital

Zhang and Centola

Investigated health behaviors and networks

Smith and Christakis

Studied health networks

Phelan et al.

Discussed flexible resources

Boardman and Fletcher

Explored epigenetics and Biosociality

Thomas McKeown

Proposed that decrease in infectious disease mortality is due to increased standards of living (McKeown thesis)

Max Weber

Argued that status distinction is tied to what an individual consumes (directly related to what one can access)

Pierre Bourdieu

Defined habitus as a set of enduring dispositions and behaviors ('cognitive maps') as a function of class position