Cultures, Subcultures and Hidden Cultures
Cultures are based on shared values, ideals, and “rules”. Subcultures, as per the infallible Wikipedia, are supposed to be subgroups within cultures that have a unique set of values. They can be based on religion, race, ethnicity. Sometimes they can go against a certain aspect of their larger culture. And obviously “hidden culture” isn’t a very technical term. Hidden culture, as I use it, refers to the values that held by society at large but aren’t necessarily out in the open.
Recently, I had some insight into the hidden culture of medicine. As students, we are supposed to be in awe of the human body. Yet, lecturers often refer to disease processes as “nasty” and “foul”. These adjectives seem innocuous at first glance. Yet, they shape the way we think of diseases and the people who have them. Despite being told that the culture of medicine is one of compassion and empathy, we are given subtle and perhaps even unintentional messages that serve to distinguish “us” from “them”. Those people out there, the patients, have “nasty” and “foul” things happening to their bodies and we doctors from our pedestals have to go down there and bear with it. Nevermind that the patient has to live with the disease 24/7.
Of course these messages are not intentional for the most part. It is hard to be at our best all the time. We are human and we slip and fall often. We must be patient with ourselves and maintain the resolve to try harder. I’m not sure that this is the case in all situations though. Sometimes there is a nudge and a wink from lecturers alluding to the humor of the situation. There is an invisible curtain that is slowly being drawn around us, separating the doctors from the patients, the “us” from the “them”. I’m not sure that we are aware of this hidden culture of medicine but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a very real and pervasive entity.