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

This paper demonstrates the potential interest for the sociological underst anding of medicine and health as social institutions of the qualitative stu dy of collective behaviour. It takes, as a case study, the transformation o f a widely-circulating contemporary legend,'The Missing Kidney' into a rumo ur in Nottingham, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in 1992. Possible me thodological approaches and interpretations are considered, making particul ar use of the work of the French sociologist, Edgar Morin, and the 'mass so ciety' tradition of social theory. It is argued that neither provides an ad equate 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 M issing Kidney offers useful insights into lay thinking about professional w ork and its strategies for the informal social control of medicine.