The development of ethics in medical and social sciences in the last half of the twentieth century

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe both the establishment of some important research ethics protocols and some major controversial studies during the second half of the twentieth century. The focus will be on how the discussion about ethics in medical and social science has developed over time. Studies of different forms of ethical misconduct will be reviewed in an attempt to provide insight into different ways in which ethical guidelines could be violated. Further attention will be given to the influence of the media and the growing mistrust towards researchers, which might be important predictors for the subjects of concern within ethical discussions in medical and social science. Integration of a number of different scientific literature reviews lead to the conclusion that the focus on specific ethical behavior changes over time.