[Download] "In the Shadow of Medicine" by Arnold Birnbaum ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: In the Shadow of Medicine
- Author : Arnold Birnbaum
- Release Date : January 01, 1990
- Genre: Medical,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 3058 KB
Description
Professions are both a very ancient and a modern phenomenon. Although found in ancient Greece and Rome, professions become a major normative force only in modern society; and it is useful to locate their ascendancy with the rise of industrial capitalism. In modern times we have learned to depend on professionals for many kinds of help. This dependency of clients on professionals marks a transition from a world in which family and clan were the major protectors of individuals against the irrationality and unpredictability of nature and society. Before the breakup of feudalism, the person without kinfolk or similar ties, had hardly any status in society and was virtually powerless. The ties that bound people together—kinship, fealty, and obedience—appeared to be fixed and frozen in time; and they provided assistance when needed.
The growth of cities challenged the hegemony of feudal ties and family supports when it came to dealing with problems such as health and safety. When strangers came together in large numbers, the encapsulated universe ended and new possibilities for careers open to talent arose. The rise of royal houses, representing the growth of the state, also meant that many professions, including medicine, architecture and law, would find patrons among the princes of Europe. Men of talent, like Leonardo da Vinci, could be useful in both peace and war, to solve recurring and emerging problems. Commoners still depended on folk healers, vernacular builders, and informal community advisers for help when they needed to go outside the family to solve their problems. Only with the rise of modern industry and the frequent and prolonged separations from community and kinfolk did the professional emerge in daily life.
An early nineteenth-century English novel, one of the first mystery stories in the language, revealed how the person alone could now stand a chance in making his or her way in this world. In Wilkie Collins’s, The Moonstone (1944), the orphaned hero is able, with the help of various experts, to survive several attempts on his life. This exciting tale put the seal of approval on the use of outsiders to deal with the dangers of the world. The early development of such professions as law and medicine made it possible to manage on one’s own.