The book is an outcome of a project initiated by UNESCO to undertake cross-cultural studies of doctors in the context of development and modernization.
The role of professions particularly the medical profession in the modernization of developing countries is a matter of considerable interest to sociologists. It is also a challenging task given the lack of agreement on what is to be understood by the terms modernization and the role of professions in it. UNESCO should be congratulated for taking it up as a theme on a cross cultural basis. Many questions could be asked in this connection: Medicine is an ancient profession devoted to removal of suffering caused by disease. What new roles and tasks should it now be entrusted with to play the role of modernization expected of it and other professions? What role, if any, was played, and in what manner, by the medical profession in the developed countries in their development and modernization; if such be the terms used to characterize them? What should be the yardstick to assess the modernizing role played by any profession? What should be considered the relationship between modernization and development? To what extent professions could be isolated from other features of the society in order to assess their contribution?