Doctors and Rules: A Sociology of Professional Values

Doctors & Rules is a unique & immensely scholarly book. It draws on material which has informed our civilization, including many of the social sciences-history, sociology, & psychology, as well as law. The author accesses the current importance of the Hippocratic tradition within medicine, & puts forward various models of its practice. He seeks to expose the often inarticulated foundation of contemporary debates about the law, medicine, & health, & to question some common assumptions of the functions & structures of social & legal order. The book challenges the idea that legal rules should be respected merely because they exist & because they play a part in centralizing the organization of society. It rejects the notion that the courts always, or even often, offer useful mechanisms for defining & settling disputes. On the contrary, the author sees in their formalism many things which hinder the common cause of humanity. Only a skeptic trained in law but also deeply concerned by our fate & circumstances could have produced it. It also contributes both to the sociology of law & the sociology of medicine. Out of a reassertion of old ways, this book presents a new blueprint for future professional conduct. It is rich in questions & ideas for researchers, teachers, & professionals in the fields of law, medical sociology, & medicine & generally for those concerned with the place of professional conduct.

Joseph M. Jacob is professor of law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.