Becoming Doctors: The Adoption of a Cloak of Competence

This book is a qualitative study of the professionalization of medical students in an innovative medical school at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The authors observed, talked to, and interviewed students in the full range of their student experiences, including tutorials, clinical settings, and extra-curricular activities. Observations commenced with the students' encounter with the admission process and continued beyond their graduation as physicians. Findings are compared and contrasted with other studies of occupations and professional socialization in more traditionally organized schools. Our analysis gives emphasis to the process of professionalization which requires a "ritual ordeal" communicating the idea of special selection, initiation, and testing before being granted professional legitimation and status. Professionalization requires the successful adoption of a "cloak of competence" communicating to legitimating audiences the idea that special changes have taken place...