Allopathic medicine in India: A case of deprofessionalization?

Abstract

While there exists considerable literature on the sociology of professions in developed countries, there have been few attempts to deal with occupational groups like doctors in underdeveloped countries. This paper locates allopathic doctors in India in terms of their social organisation and values, and considers the attempts which have been made to secure and extend their autonomy and monopoly. It is argued that nascent professionalization on the model of the developed countries is discernible in India by the 1920s, largely as a result of sponsorship by British doctors and by the Imperial State. However, since then, allopathic doctors in India have lost ground. Their indigenous competitors have produced a situation of medical oligopoly, the political structures have intruded more deeply into decision-making on promotions, entrance to medical college, and the establishment of new medical colleges. As a result, the Western doctors are experiencing deprofessionalization, in that they have lost autonomy both within the outside public employment, and have been vulnerable to political intrusions, though they remain powerful and prestigious. These trends are to be understood as results of the dependent position of India in the medical world, and as a result of the nature of post-colonial society within India.