History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back «SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE»: NEW SCIENCE OR NEW APPROACHES TO OLD TRADITIONS A.V. Petrov, I.K. Cheremushnikova, I.A. Petrova The article provides a historical retrospective and identifies some of the key indicators of the paradigmatic turn that took place in the Western cultural tradition in the History of Medicine. The phenomenon lasted from the 19th century till the 60-s – 70-s of the 20th century. The authors of the article proceed from the fact that aspects of clinical medicine cannot be understood and studied without assessing the influence of social and cultural factors, since cultural patterns set the paradigm of the disease and methods of its treatment, the main trends of the development of medical science and practice. The History of Medicine has long been considered one of the branches of medicine, but by the end of the 19th century it had become obvious that this area of History became completely independent. The first half of the 20th century was a period of cooperation and competition between historians-doctors and non-medical professional historians who began to study medicine and applied general historical methods to the field of the History of Medicine. Simultaneously the transition to using the theory and methodology of historical science by historians-doctors took place. A particular attention in the article is paid to the period of the 60-70-s of the 20th century, when the “New History of Medicine” finally acquired its outline and established itself as a social discipline. This turn is connected with the name of George Rosen, the American scientist who was both Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy. His work became a link connecting two epochs, two approaches; it contributed to cooperation of physicians and historians. This led to a change in the research paradigm, so that the socio-cultural aspects of the development of medicine were included in the History of Medicine. In conclusion, the authors underlined the importance of the History of Medicine providing for wider social views of future doctors. It is concluded that the active participation of representatives of the humanities in the teaching of the History of Medicine eliminates the tension between the anthropological and the medical components of the course. Keywords: History of Medicine, research paradigm, Western scientifi c tradition, social aspect of History of Medicine, historians-doctors, professional non-medical historians. DOI: 10.25791/intstg.12.2021.1325 Pp. 09-17.