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Making uncertainty habitable: Ritual and professional formation in anatomical dissection
Veronica Moretti1, Annalisa Plava2, Jens O Zinn3
1University of Bologna, Department of Sociology and Business Law, Strada Maggiore 45, Bologna, Italy.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|August 10, 2026
Summary
Medical education manages uncertainty through ritualized practices like anatomical dissection. These rituals help trainees navigate complex situations, but can also reinforce hierarchy if not critically examined.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Sociology of Professions
- Anthropology of Ritual
Background:
- Medical education is described as "training for uncertainty."
- The practical organization of uncertainty in professional formation is underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conceptualize anatomical dissection as a ritualised infrastructure for managing uncertainty in medical education.
- To identify the ritual dimensions coordinating scientific knowledge, professional norms, and embodied dispositions.
Main Methods:
- Participant observation (seven months) at the University of Bologna.
- Semi-structured interviews (n=32) with medical trainees and educators.
- Sociocultural approach to risk and anthropological theories of ritual.
Main Results:
- Identified three ritual dimensions: technical, ethical, and socio-emotional.
- Ritualized practices stabilize action under epistemic incompleteness and moral exposure.
- Rituals render uncertainty inhabitable, but can reinforce hierarchy or suppress reflection when detached from articulation.
Conclusions:
- Anatomical dissection serves as a ritualised infrastructure for collective uncertainty management in medical training.
- Ritual plays a central, yet contested, role in shaping professional authority and navigating the transition into medicine.
- The stabilizing function of rituals is ambivalent, requiring reflexive articulation to mitigate potential negative consequences.