Toward a New Sociology of Medical Education

As the American health care system alters its structure to fit the priorities of institutional buyers, medical schools and academic medical centers are likely to undergo profound change. The time is ripe for a new generation of studies on medical education as a social institution, studies that focus more on organization and power than did the classics. This article outlines the changes taking place and then reviews previous contributions by sociologists of medical education in order to suggest several avenues for future research.