Health services system in Hong Kong: professional stratification in a modernizing society

Abstract

A characteristic of modernizing societies is the coexistence of modern and traditional professions that claim to perform the same functions for the society. As a result of differential support by the dominant classes and their social values, and by the academic and the political authorities, the modern profession occupies a higher stratificational ranking than the traditional profession. In order to struggle for survival and to compete for more social-political and economic resources, the traditional profession advocates a rational revival, i.e. a rationalization of its social organization and technical contentmin this paper, I have illustrated these generalized statements by analyzing and comparing the profession of modern medicine with that of Chinese medicine in the modernizing society of Hong Kong, These two types of professional services are coexisting in the pluralistic health context of Hong Kong, but the former enjoys greater power, higher prestige and more economic resources. The state of modern medical dominance may be due to its connection with the dominant social value of science and to its support by the "higher" classes and the university and the government in Hong Kong. In recent years; however, there has emerged a revivalistic movement in the realm of Chinese medical care. In significant part, this may be influenced by developments in the People's Republic of China.