Social constructionism and medical sociology: a rejoinder to Nicolson and McLaughlin.

The article is in reply to the paper on social constructionism and the development of medical sociology. The central point of sociologists M. Nicolson and N. McLaughlin's reply concerns the realism aspects of constructionism. There is no doubt that this is a difficult area, and Nicolson and McLaughlin attempt a defense of a view of medical knowledge as being simultaneously both realist and socially constructed as well as arguing for methodological relativism. Variations on the theme of the underdetermined character of human knowledge are widely accepted, and the author find nothing remarkable in the view that medical knowledge is influenced and shaped by social circumstance. Medical knowledge may well take on symbolic qualities in modern society and be influenced by social forces in its production. It is quite possible to hold that sociology should study the social processes through which knowledge is produced and yet remain concerned about its validity.