The Democratisation of Medicine: Universities, Democracy and Ethics

The purpose is to initiate research about the establishment of research ethics and bioethics at Swedish universities from around 1960 onwards. It takes as a starting point that this kind of ethics represents a field of ​​knowledge where notions of science, democracy and the proper relationship between them are constructed. Overall research questions are: What problems have research ethics and bioethics been seen as a solution to? What role has been attributed to science and what conceptions and values about democratic representation have been advanced? What have changed over time? A pilot study is conducted that focuses on how democracy was defined by medical students and teachers during the 1960s, as well as what changes within the university that these historical actors demanded in order to create a better democratic order. This debate was national in character but linked to international movements, which means that it can provide a broader understanding of public criticism of medical research, education and care in Western democratic societies at the time.

Solveig Jülich is Professor at the Department of History of Science and Ideas.