The ASA's Medical Sociology Section, which awards the prize, is one of the largest sections of the Association, with more than 1,000 active members. Chambliss received the award at the annual meeting of the ASA in San Francisco. The ASA, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and to promoting the contributions and use of sociology to society. Beyond Caring has already achieved a wide distribution, being used in both graduate and undergraduate courses in medical sociology, social theory and research methods at the universities of North Carolina, Northwestern, Washington, Yale, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Rutgers and Emory, among others. The University of Chicago Press launched a second printing of the book this spring.
Chambliss spent 10 years doing field research for the book, which examines the real world of the contemporary hospital, its nurses and their moral and ethical crises.
Chambliss has been a member of the Hamilton College faculty since 1981. He earned a bachelor's degree from New College, and a master's degree and Ph.D. from Yale University. He is also the author of Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers, which was named 1991 Book of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 1989 Chambliss received the American Sociological Association's Theory Prize for his work on organizational excellence.
Hamilton College is an independent, highly selective liberal arts college that was founded in 1812. It is named for Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, and features a strong curriculum in the humanities, the arts, the sciences and the social sciences.
