George Weisz - Böcker

This wide-ranging and imaginative book examines the social and scientific role of the French Academy of Medicine from its creation in 1820 to the outbreak of the Second World War. Weisz traces the Academy's history, and argues that it was gradually transformed from a low-status public institution that was central to French medical science in the nineteenth century, to an 'establishment' institution largely irrelevant to medical science, but playing a key role in public health policy.The second part of the book looks at broader issues of medical history, and shows how a scientific study of mineral waters led to the formation of disciplines within medical science. The final part examines the place and role of the medical elite - the Medical Mandarins - within French bourgeoisie.This book utilizes academic activities and sources to explore such major questions in the social and scientific history of medicine as the nature of therapeutic reasoning, the scientific specificity of French medicine, and the consequences for the medical profession of hierarchical centralization.

This wide-ranging book is the first to examine one of the most significant and characteristic features of modern medicine - specialization - in historical and comparative context. Based on research in three languages, it traces the origins of modern medical specialization to 1830s Paris and examines its spread to Germany, Britain, and the US, showing how it evolved from an outgrowth of academic teaching and research in the 19th century into the dominant mode of medical practice by the middle of the 20th. Taking account of the parallels and differences in national developments, the book shows the international links among the nations' medical systems as well as the independent influences of local political and social conditions in the move toward specialization. An epilogue takes the story up to the twenty-first century, where problems of specialization merge into the larger crisis of health care which affects most western nations today.

The papers in this volume represent the first attempt at a coherent analysis of the institutional structure of French science and technology in the nineteenth century. They treat both research and education and cover the main developments in the period from the establishment of the Napoleonic University in 1808 to the outbreak of the First World War. The papers reflect the intense interest in the social history of French science since the Revolution and convey a vivid impression of different modes of thought in a particularly active field of research. The contributions stress and develop more clearly than in any previous study, the theme of structural change in a complex interlocking network of institutions. Far from being an unresponsive monolith, France's system of scientific research and education proved capable of significant modification and expansion, especially in the later nineteenth century. To an extent that has not been fully recognised by historians, the French did respond to the changing demands of an industrialising economy and to the intellectual, economic and political challenge of the new Germany - a point that needs to be taken into account in discussions of the supposed decline of French science in the nineteenth century.

George Weisz offers a comprehensive analysis of the French university system during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examining the major reforms of higher education undertaken during the Third Republic, he argues that the original thrust for reform came from within the educational system, especially from an academic profession seeking to raise its occupational status. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

George Weisz offers a comprehensive analysis of the French university system during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examining the major reforms of higher education undertaken during the Third Republic, he argues that the original thrust for reform came from within the educational system, especially from an academic profession seeking to raise its occupational status. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Long and recurring illnesses have burdened sick people and their doctors since ancient times, but until recently the concept of "chronic disease" had limited significance. Even lingering diseases like tuberculosis, a leading cause of mortality, did not inspire dedicated public health activities until the later decades of the nineteenth century, when it became understood as a treatable infectious disease. Historian of medicine George Weisz analyzes why the idea of chronic disease assumed critical importance in the twentieth century and how it acquired new meaning as one of the most serious problems facing national healthcare systems. Chronic Disease in the Twentieth Century challenges the conventional wisdom that the concept of chronic disease emerged because medicine's ability to cure infectious disease led to changing patterns of disease. Instead, it suggests, the concept was constructed and has evolved to serve a variety of political and social purposes. How and why the concept developed differently in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France are central concerns of this work.In the United States, anxiety about chronic disease spread early in the twentieth century and was transformed in the 1950s and 1960s into a national crisis that helped shape healthcare reform. In the United Kingdom, the concept emerged only after World War II, was associated almost exclusively with proper medical care for the elderly population, and became closely linked to the development of geriatrics as a specialty. In France, the problems of elderly and infirm people were handled as technical and administrative matters until the 1950s and 1960s, when medical treatment of elderly people emerged as a subset of their wider social marginality. While an international consensus now exists regarding a chronic disease crisis that demands better forms of disease management, the different paths taken by these countries during the twentieth century continue to exert profound influence. This book seeks to explain why, among the innumerable problems faced by societies, some problems in some places become viewed as critical public issues that shape health policy.