Social Relations and Innovation in the Medical Profession: The Epidemiology of a New Drug

The role played by face-to-face contacts in mediating influences from the outside world in a case of decision-making among professional experts is confirmed in a study of drug adoptions by physicians.

Abstract

A study of drug adoptions by physicians allowed the introduction of socio-metric techniques into a field survey of decision-making. Pharmacists* files made available a precise record of the decisions made. This pilot study confirms the role played by face-to-face contacts in mediating influences from the outside world in a case of decision-making among professional experts. Several amendments to the hypothesis of the two-step flow of communications became necessary. Herbert Menzel is a research associate at the Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University. Elihu Katz, formerly of the Bureau, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago.