Contemporary legends, rumours and collective behaviour: some neglected resources for medical sociology?

This paper demonstrates the potential interest for the sociological understanding of medicine and health as social institutions of the qualitative study of collective behaviour. It takes, as a case study, the transformation of a widely-circulating contemporary legend,'The Missing Kidney' into a rumour in Nottingham, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in 1992. Possible methodological approaches and interpretations are considered, making particular use of the work of the French sociologist, Edgar Morin, and the 'mass society' tradition of social theory. It is argued that neither provides an adequate understanding of the phenomenon and that medical sociologists should look to the Chicago tradition of work on collective behaviour, represented by Park and Blumer for inspiration. Using this, it is suggested that the Missing Kidney offers useful insights into lay thinking about professional work and its strategies for the informal social control of medicine.