Making sense of differences between medical schools through Bourdieu’s concept of ‘field’

Abstract

Medical schools have varying curricula, reputations, and types and levels of resources. They compete with one another on all these fronts and attract different types of students and staff. Research and practice in basic medical education must take account of the position of any given medical school in relation to its competitors and to external agencies in order to critically consider the ethos of its curriculum and the perspectives of its students and staff. Bourdieu's concept of field offers one useful way of accomplishing this.