Ethnic and Class Differences Among Hospitals as Contingencies in Medical Careers

The ethnic and class structure of medicine in Chicago are described by classifying hospitals into four types which differ in size, characteristics of sponsors, approval of facilities by accrediting bodies, ethnic composition of medical staffs, proportions of physicians who are specialists, and proportions with offices in the central business district. Each category thus represents a different ethnic and class type of hospital and a relatively separate social world of medical practice. These aspects of the medical social system constitute the crucial contingencies of medical careers. How they are met determines the type of career and degree of success of the individual practitioner.