Content area
This paper describes the main developments of social sciences applied to health in Mexico. It begins with a brief description of the three founding schools that have taken health as their subject matter: medical anthropology, with a long tradition in this country; social medicine, developed basically by the Metropolitan Autonomous University at Xochimilco; and the sociology of public health, promoted mainly by the National Institute of Public Health. After reviewing the main contributions of these schools of thought, and the main debates that have taken place among them, this paper focuses on the main contemporary developments, a sort of "second generation" of Mexican medical sociology. This review distinguishes between theoretical, methodological, and substantive contributions, the last ones being those related to the most dynamic and productive fields. The paper concludes by pointing out the relevance of medical sociology in Mexico and by arguing on the need to reactivate the academic exchange and debate among the different schools, in order to increase the quality of the scientific production in this field.