יום ד' ,   18.5.2005,   18:00 - 20:00
Sackler School of Medicine, Room 201

Prof. George Weisz, Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University

" Divide and Conquer: Rethinking the History of Medical Specialization in Comparative Perspective"

In this talk, George Weisz reexamines the nineteenth-century origins of medical specialization. He suggests that by the 1880s, specialization became perceived as a necessity of medical science as a result of the realization of three pre-conditions. First, a new collective desire to expand medical knowledge prompted doctors to specialize; only specialization, it was believed, permitted the rigorous observation of many cases. The acceptance of such values by new communities of clinical researchers encouraged the development of specialization. Second, the rise of medical specialties was closely linked with emerging notions of administrative rationality. One could, it was widely thought, best manage large populations through proper classification, gathering together individuals belonging to the same class and separating those belonging to different categories. Third, the unification of medicine and surgery transformed medicine from a collection of occupations into a single profession capable of division into specialties. All these conditions emerged first and most powerfully in early nineteenth-century Paris. They were, in contrast, uniquely underdeveloped in the fragmented medical community of London during this period.

Moderator: Etienne Lepicard, MD, PhD, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University