The History of the Conference
The MedSoc Group’s Annual Conference dates from 1969. It has become one of the main reference points of the academic calendar, though it now takes place in September rather than the original November slot. It is said that the conference was sited at York because this location was roughly equi-distant from the three large medical sociology research centres of the time, which were located in Aberdeen, London and Swansea. Early conferences at the Viking Hotel, York have acquired an almost mythical status for older group members, and although the conference has visited such places as Blackpool, Weston-super-Mare, Warwick, Durham, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh, York continues to be the favoured venue. Click on the links below to see Cathy Pope and Sue Ziebland’s commentary on 25 years of MedSoc Conferences from MedSoc News 1993 and a brief note from John McKinlay.
Reproduced with permission of the authors from Medical Sociology News 19(1) December 1993, pp 12-16.
As reported by: Catherine Pope in London and at the Archives in Warwick, and Sue Ziebland in Boston, Oxford and Warwick.
1969: The birth of the group is recorded unceremoniously in the archive copy (1) of typewritten notes entitled, Decisions reached at Medical Sociology Group Meeting. 2-3.15pm Saturday 1st November 1969. The 49 people attending this historic meeting in York, along with the Convener (sic) J B McKinley* decided that the group should meet twice a year - once during the BSA conference and again, separately for a weekend in the autumn. It was decreed that the convener (still sic) should be in same centre as the executive, and as IBM was in Aberdeen it was agreed that the executive should stay in Aberdeen for the next two years, and that "the convener (more sic) should choose his own executive".
1970: The archives are unclear as to whether this initial meeting counted as the first annual meeting, or whether the first official meeting of the Medical Sociology Group was during the BSA Conference in Durham 1970. The importance of enumerating these things appears to have sunk in however by the time of the second annual meeting held in Blackpool from 6-8th November 1971). John McKinlay’s choice of venue was dictated by a personal sense of adventure,
‘quite frankly I chose Blackpool (because] I had never been there... it was a success and a problem. The success was I think associated with the fact that there was nothing to do there.., everything was closed.., and I remember the hotel insisted that you always had to, you know, [eat] at the same table, but you know people at meetings, they broke all the rules." (2).
A (selective) glance at the participants list reveals that these rebellious youngsters included Barbara Bellaby, MJ Bloor, A Cartwright, K Dunnell, R Frankenberg, Margot Jeffreys, A Murcott, Anselm Strauss, PM Strong, David Tuckett, and M Wadsworth.
1971: The Nat West Bank transfers the Medical Sociology Group accounts to David Richards, the incoming convener (£8.67 in the current account and £229.41 on deposit). This wealth is overshadowed by dissent, which breaks out in the ranks over the Committee taking all the decisions. An impassioned plea goes up, surely, it is argued,"200 odd allegedly intelligent people are capable of arriving at reasonably informed decisions about their own conference".
The sea air obviously agrees with the infant medical sociologists and the 3rd Annual Conference is held in Weston-super-Mare, November 5-7th 1971. Some 53 delegates attended, split between the Royal Hotel and the Salisbury, including a youthful David Blane from Bedford College, and a Miss S. McIntyre (sic) from the Centre for Social Studies, Aberdeen (what dizzy heights they would reach in later years...). Sadly Herbert Palmer from the Norwegian Hospital Association is unable to attend this first truly democratic conference, he sends a telegram on 6th November 1971: "Unable to come. Difficult conditions London Airport after strike" and thus he misses a plenary discussion session with Mr Cornish and Dr Ashley Miller which "We trust will tell us much of the ways in which die DHSS and MRC operate with regard to socio-medical research."
After the conference, there is a minor fracas between the group’s executive and the Royal Hotel concerning £2.80 outstanding for a phone call made to the USA by one (nameless) delegate. Further financial embarrassment ensues about a fee of £6.00 for corkage on the sherry reception.
Back to top.^
1972: The Conference, initially scheduled for lst-3rd December is unexpectedly moved to the weekend of the 8-10th. This is explained in a letter from the proprietor of the Viking Hotel, York "I am most grateful to you for rearranging your dates in order that York can accommodate the RAC Rally". The group is growing fast and David Richards, in charge of booking writes, "I am sure you will appreciate some of the difficulties facing me in organising the accommodation and programme for the Conference and in keeping everyone happy. If you want a single room write to me before November 13th.
There are only 25 single rooms available and again these will be let on a principle of 1st come 1st served. The hotel is charging £3.00 extra for single rooms, we feel that it is only fair that those who elect for single accommodation should pay this supplement. If you an coming wit/i a colleague wit/i whom you are prepared to share please let me know otherwise you will have to accept the permutations I propose."
(And wouldn’t you like to know who shared with.... ). The registration fees range from 50p to £1.50, and full board in one of those naughty twin rooms a mere £10.50. In one of the many letters surviving from this time Richards writes,
"Yes of course you can have the presidential suite if you promise not to do a Nguza l’Bond (Foreign Minister in London this week) on me!!!"
Archivists remain unclear as to the precise meaning of this and hope that the full document will soon be analysed by a trained conversational analyst. In September a potential plenarist is approached, "Margot did mention a plenary paper on some rather awe inspiring theme such as the ‘state of medical sociology today’ I am not keen to undertake such a paper at such short notice."
The withdrawal of one candidate, with only weeks to go, leads the group to hatch a cunning plan, in the shape of a letter: ‘Dear Ronnie, This is the begging letter which I had hoped not to have to write...
To which a certain professor’s secretary replies: "Professor Frankenberg says that he would very much like not to give the opening paper...
In the event he presents a joint paper with Joyce Leeson on ‘The sociology of health dilemmas in the post colonial world’. Anne Murcott recalls (3) that during this plenary Frankenberg junior played quietly on the floor, and counts as one of the youngest plenary attenders. Other events during the conference include the adoption of a written constitution, and Jo Moffat is registered as the conference’s first vegetarian.
Back to top.^
1973: By now things are becoming formal. In a memo to committee members in January the convenor says, "Now that the group size is getting much larger I think we shall have to formalise our business more and therefore propose to keep more detailed records’.
More effective channels of communication are sought and so the first medical sociology newsletter is born (printed at a cost of £3.50) and goes out to 450 individuals. Student subsidies for the conference are introduced this year and the group makes £10 available for the London Medical Sociology Group to pay K. Bach and H. Becker to present a paper whilst they are in England. The conference meanwhile is held at the Viking Hotel, York, with plenaries by Margot Jeffreys and Meg Stacey.
1974: The year dawns with the publication of the 2nd Register of Medical Sociology, and the controversy over the cover of the Medical Sociology Newsletter. The 6th annual conference returns to the Viking Hotel, for 8-10 November. In all 171 people attend, some part-time and 44 papers are given under the convenorship of Malcolm Johnson.
1975: The 7th Annual Conference sees the medical sociologists firmly entrenched in the Viking Hotel for the 7-9th November. The programme improves and for the first time there is a grid outlining each day. Streams are no longer decided in advance - it is felt that people are discouraged from presenting papers which do not neatly fit the proposed streams.
In the archives today you can still see the handmade index book, made from a student note pad, which was used to allocate rooms and record payment. Here Mark McCarthy’s name appears as the second recorded vegetarian attending the conference. Papers from 1975 included ‘From honey to vinegar: Levi Strauss in Vermont’ and ‘The reasons and techniques for homosexual "coming out": first report of a content analysis of 102 American, English, Norwegian and Scottish interviews.’
Given this diversity is unsurprising that Roy Mapes proposes to start a new, quarterly journal on medical sociology.
1976: Back to the Viking for the 8th Conference, 5-7th November under the convenorship of Gerry Stimson. The fees are now £2 for BSA members and £4 for non-members, 50p for students and accommodation costs ?23.50. This year for the first time a disco is held, starting at 8.30 prompt. Given the outbreak of food-poisoning at the BSA main conference (devoted to ‘health’) in Manchester earlier in the year, credit is due to the intrepid sociologists who made it to this disco. Unfortunately your archivists have not managed to uncover any suitable photographic evidence from this period (4).
Back to top.^
1977: The Conference moves to September to accommodate the growing numbers of medical sociologists who have teaching jobs and can’t get away in the middle of term. It is held from 16-18th at the University of Warwick. Vincente Navarro gives a plenary on The politics of Health’ and this year there are ten streams and ‘constructionism’ and ‘quality of life’ become part of the medical sociologist’s vocabulary. The award for title brevity must surely go, this year, to Uta Gerhardt for ‘how much Parsons?’
1978: September sees the conference back in York, this time at the University for the weekend of 22-24. For those unable or unwilling to ‘get on down’ at Quackers Mobile Disco, Sheila Hillier provides a slide show of a recent trip to China.
1979: The decennial celebrations take place in York from Friday 28 September to Monday I October. Anne Murcott takes on the job of convenor and has the task of detailing the history of the group in the foreword to the programme. An extra day means an extra plenary and Meg Stacey, George Cust and Peter Townsend are drafted in to do the honours.
Back to top.^
1980: It’s back to the University of Warwick and the fees for the weekend of 19-21st September are £5.00 for BSA members, £10.00 for non-members and £1 for unwaged/students. Thatcherite cuts start to hurt and Medical Socioloey News sends out a green questionnaire concerning ‘economic stringencies facing sociology’. Consumerism takes hold with complaints such as this from ‘Bob’ saying "May I add my vote to the many that felt that Warwick should be crossed off the list of conference venues. It is very difficult travelwise for many and the food was dreadful."
1981: This year, SHI produces its first special issue containing articles by David Silverman et al. from Goldsmiths College, and September finds the group back home in York for the 12th Annual Conference which over 200 people attend.
1982: Medical Sociology News is forced to start charging (£3 for 6 issues for BSA members and students). Malcolm Colledge takes over as convenor and the 13th Annual Conference joins forces with the Society for the Social History of Medicine and is held at the University of Durham from 24-26th September.
1983: In June a joint conference is held with the Health Economics Group and attracts 90 participants. Phil Strong reports that this clash of world views was productive. The annual conference is held 23-25th September in Vanbrugh College, University of York.
1984: The conference, in perhaps its most controversial year, moves to Sheffield from 2 1-23 September with the theme Racism in the Health Service’. The plenary and the marginalisation of race in the conference are the subject of much debate both at the conference and in the subsequent issue of Medical Sociology News.
1985: David Silverman gives the plenary this year, entitled ‘Telling convincing stories’: A call for practical positivism in the sociology of health and illness’. This appears as one of the many titles ‘avec colon’ in a year in which punctuation runs riot in conference papers. Those in need of light relief can catch a movie between 2.00- 3.30 and 7.30-900 on Saturday. including epidemiological screen classics such as ‘Dirty Old Town’.
Back to top.^
1986: The AGM is held with "734 excited conference goers" present in Alcuin College, York. Forty six papers are presented and the participants include David Field, who later writes an account of being denied entry, along with several others, to a York discotheque despite the plea "It’s all right you can let us in we’re sociologists". David Woodman, editor of Medical Sociology News attempts some innovations in the broadsheet-unfortunately Mrs McTavish declines the offer of a regular column as there is nae money in’t.
1987: The group’s archives are deposited at Warwick this year providing a fascinating record for your archivists. The conference returns to Alcuin College, York 25-27 September. Smoking at the conference is discussed, in the light of a letter in the December 1986 issue of Medical Sociology News but no action is taken at the AGM as ‘the protagonist’ is not present.
1988: Steve Platt assumes the role of acting convenor as Hilary Humans leaves for Zimbabwe. The 20th Conference is held in York in Wentworth College, 16-18 September where David Silverman is responsible for running the creche. Coming out of their teens the medical sociologists continue the search for meaning and the ‘Sociology of the Emotions’ group is set up.
1989: The conference goes to Manchester and the programme helpfully lists venues where a pint of Wilsons, Log 42 or John Willie can be imbibed. Those of a healthier disposition could ho doubt be found at Bryan Turner’s plenary on ‘The body in Sociology’.
Back to top.^
1990: The 22nd Conference moves to the University’ of Edinburgh and over 60 papers are presented. Virginia Olsen comes over from California to give her plenary on "Neglected emotions: a challenge to medical sociology". Emotional links are furthered by the addition of a ceilidh to the now usual disco on Saturday night.
1991: York again. By now some 220 people attend the conference and 75 papers are presented in eight streams. An emergency meeting is held to discuss the furore surrounding the Bristol Cancer Help Centre research.
1992: Joint meeting with the European Society of Medical Sociology is held in Edinburgh from 18-21 September. The conference doubles in size with 240 abstracts submitted and 420 participants. Artwork is commissioned for the programme cover and the conference is given the theme ‘Health in Europe: diversity integration and change’ and for the first year 20 minute papers are introduced.
1993: The 25th Annual Conference is held, fittingly at York where everything began. In the crowd at the 25th anniversary celebration your on the spot reporters identified several of those first delegates, then they went back to the bar, musing or how time flies when you’re having fun…
Back to top.^
1. British Medical Sociology Group Archives 1969-1982. Modern Records Centre. University of Warwick. Coventry.
2. Interview transcript (John McKinley on r.7.93 New England Research lnstitute.Watertown, Boston, Mass).
3. Interview transcript (Anne Murcott. on 5.8.93. Islington. London NW1)
4. Alice Lovell. (private photographic archive).
Back to top.^
Field. D. (1986) ‘Of death, discos and the lady in red’, Medical Sociology News 12:22
Lovell, A. (1987) ‘Some thoughts on the Art of good Med Soc conferencing’, Medical Sociology News 12:7
Anon. (1987) ‘A response by another conference goer’, Medical Sociology News 12:8
Lovell, A. (1987) ‘A. Lovell replies’, Medical Sociology News 12:9
Power. R. (l989) ‘Journal Notes, Saturday morning at the Manchester Conference’, Medical Sociology News 15:38.
* Ed’s note (2000). In their bout of sic’ness our intrepid reporters seem to have misspelt McKinlay’s name and cast doubt on a perfectly correct spelling of ‘convener’ (according to the OED both spellings are acceptable). Still it is easy to forgive them...
Back to top.^
As you know, the first meeting was in York. Surprising that it is still the venue. I chose York because it was roughly half way between the two powerhouses of med soc in those days.. Who knows, as the original founder of the MedSoc group they may eventually give me an invitation to the meeting to talk. It would be nice. It was not easy (back in 1968!!) to get the group going. Meg Stacey was more helpful than anyone.
John McKinlay, August 2000.
Back to top.^
Return to MedSoc History homepage.
