Awards

• Commended for Donald W. Light Award, Medical Sociology Section, American Sociological Association 2022
• Short-listed for Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize, British Sociological Association 2022

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9780231189354

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Reviews

With verve and an ethnographic sensibility, Jenkins explores how the medical profession informally sorts its members into elites and an underclass. Rather than merit, structural and institutional factors determine sharply diverging career paths. In this gripping but disturbing book, medical socialization meets social inequities along class, race, and nativist lines. An absolute must read. -- Stefan Timmermans, UCLA Doctors' Orders sheds light on an area of medical sociology that is important but not terribly well understood. Jenkins's book is well-written, insightful, and compelling. Its contribution will endure. -- Jason Schnittker, author of <i>The Diagnostic System: Why the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders is Necessary, Difficult, and Never Settled</i> Doctors' Orders adds essential insights to our understanding of both status and elites. This empirically rich comparative study shows how the medical profession conceptualizes itself as rewarding talent, all the while structurally organizing itself to reproduce inequalities. These are important insights for understanding the medical profession, and extend well beyond, to a general understanding of how stratification works in America. -- Shamus Khan, coauthor of <i>Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus</i> and <i>Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School</i>

Doctors' Orders sheds light on an area of medical sociology that is important but not terribly well understood. Jenkins's book is well-written, insightful, and compelling. Its contribution will endure. -- Jason Schnittker, author of <i>The Diagnostic System: Why the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders is Necessary, Difficult, and Never Settled</i>

Doctors' Orders sheds light on an area of medical sociology that is important but not terribly well understood. Jenkins's book is well-written, insightful, and compelling. Its contribution will endure.

Doctors' Orders is an insightful examination of of the forces that drive status inequality in medicine. I recommend it for anyone interested in how the U.S. medical residency system really works. -- Sandeep Jauhar, author of <i>Intern: A Doctor's Initiation</i> An important reminder that inequality exists everywhere, even within the medical profession. A major contribution to our understanding status hierarchies within medicine and their impact on patient care. -- Charles L. Bosk, author of <i>Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure</i> Doctors' Orders sheds light on an area of medical sociology that is important but not terribly well understood. Jenkins's book is well-written, insightful, and compelling. Its contribution will endure. -- Jason Schnittker, author of <i>The Diagnostic System: Why the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders is Necessary, Difficult, and Never Settled</i> Doctors' Orders reveals stark divides in the experiences of medical school students and graduates in the United States based on degree type and nationality. Jenkins' fascinating ethnographic study shows how concerns about status at the individual and institutional levels pervade the selection and training of doctors and reproduce inequalities within the medical profession. The findings, however, transcend medicine, illuminating how taken-for-granted assumptions about the link between educational prestige and individual merit shape career outcomes among US professionals. The book is a must-read for scholars interested in medical sociology and the sociology of professions as well as practitioners. -- Lauren A. Rivera, author of <i>Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs</i> Doctors' Orders adds essential insights to our understanding of both status and elites. This empirically rich comparative study shows how the medical profession conceptualizes itself as rewarding talent, all the while structurally organizing itself to reproduce inequalities. These are important insights for understanding the medical profession, and extend well beyond, to a general understanding of how stratification works in America. -- Shamus Khan, coauthor of <i>Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus</i> and <i>Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School</i> With verve and an ethnographic sensibility, Jenkins explores how the medical profession informally sorts its members into elites and an underclass. Rather than merit, structural and institutional factors determine sharply diverging career paths. In this gripping but disturbing book, medical socialization meets social inequities along class, race, and nativist lines. An absolute must read. -- Stefan Timmermans, UCLA

With verve and an ethnographic sensibility, Jenkins explores how the medical profession informally sorts its members into elites and an underclass. Rather than merit, structural and institutional factors determine sharply diverging career paths. In this gripping but disturbing book, medical socialization meets social inequities along class, race, and nativist lines. An absolute must read. -- Stefan Timmermans, author of <i>Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths</i> Doctors' Orders sheds light on an area of medical sociology that is important but not terribly well understood. Jenkins's book is well written, insightful, and compelling. Its contribution will endure. -- Jason Schnittker, author of <i>The Diagnostic System: Why the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders Is Necessary, Difficult, and Never Settled</i> Doctors' Orders reveals stark divides in the experiences of medical school students and graduates in the United States based on degree type and nationality. Jenkins' fascinating ethnographic study shows how concerns about status at the individual and institutional levels pervade the selection and training of doctors and reproduce inequalities within the medical profession. The findings, however, transcend medicine, illuminating how taken-for-granted assumptions about the link between educational prestige and individual merit shape career outcomes among US professionals. The book is a must-read for scholars interested in medical sociology and the sociology of professions as well as practitioners. -- Lauren A. Rivera, author of <i>Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs</i> Doctors' Orders is an insightful examination of the forces that drive status inequality in medicine. I recommend it for anyone interested in how the U.S. medical residency system really works. -- Sandeep Jauhar, author of <i>Intern: A Doctor's Initiation</i> An important reminder that inequality exists everywhere, even within the medical profession. A major contribution to our understanding status hierarchies within medicine and their impact on patient care. -- Charles L. Bosk, author of <i>Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure</i> Doctors' Orders adds essential insights to our understanding of both status and elites. This empirically rich comparative study shows how the medical profession conceptualizes itself as rewarding talent, all the while structurally organizing itself to reproduce inequalities. These are important insights for understanding the medical profession, and they extend well beyond, to a general understanding of how stratification works in America. -- Shamus Khan, coauthor of <i>Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus</i> and <i>Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School</i>

Author Information

Tania M. Jenkins is assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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