Assistant Professor of Sociology Matthew Grace recently published “Subjective social status and premedical students’ attitudes towards medical school” in the journal Social Science & Medicine. The article focuses on Grace’s study of ways subjective social status may shape students’ reservations about medical school attendance and their perceptions of external pressure to pursue a career in medicine.
The goal of the study was to “highlight how premedical students’ experiences can vary widely as a function of their social status” and how the distinctive hardships faced by lower status premedical students may shape their attitudes toward medical school.
The results provided some preliminary insights into status-based discrepancies in stress, social capital and medical school outlook among premedical students.
