Peter Conrad
Peter Conrad, a pioneering medical sociologist who brought attention to the increasing medicalization of society, died in his home in Lincoln on March 3, 2024. He was 78 years old. He died at home, surrounded by loved ones, listening to Joan Baez. His cause of death was pneumonia after a long experience of Parkinson’s.
Peter Conrad, the author of 16 books or monographs and more than 100 articles and chapters, was a dedicated academic at Brandeis University for more than 30 years, where he chaired both the Sociology Department and the Health, Science, Society, and Policy program.
Peter Franklin Conrad was born on April 12, 1945, in New York City to George Conrad and Gertrude (Rosenthal) Conrad. They were recent Jewish emigres from Germany and Austria, respectively. Conrad always proclaimed that he was a disobedient, distracted student during middle and high school school — one of the sources of his later interest in ADHD — and that he only came alive academically after taking sociology courses at SUNY Buffalo, now the University of Buffalo.
He went on to earn a master’s degree from Northeastern University, in part to get a draft deferment from the Vietnam War. As a conscientious objector, he was assigned to do alternative service as an occupational therapy assistant at Boston State Hospital, a historic mental health institution. Witnessing interactions between patients, clinicians, and the institution provided him with initial insights that would later lead him to apply sociological tools in examining the medical system’s roles in society.
Combining this perspective with sociology’s mid-century preoccupation with “devianc,e” he wrote his PhD dissertation at Boston University, which became his first book, Identifying Hyperactive Children: the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior. Peter began to understand that the diagnosis of hyperkinesis — later called hyperactivity, then ADD, and now called ADHD — “medicalized deviance.” It transitioned a perceived “moral failing” into a medical diagnosis. This became a major theme in his research. As the subtitle of one of his most cited books puts it, medicalization transforms from “badness to sickness.”
Over his career, he looked at how cultural and social factors in medicalization shape the definitions, perceptions, and experiences of alcoholism, depression, homosexuality, baldness, short boys, and tall girls, among other conditions in addition to ADHD.
While many tried moralizing medicalization, Peter resisted that impulse. “I’m not trying to say it’s good or bad,” he’d often say. “I’m saying it’s happening and we should understand it.” Though his work was deeply analytical and theoretical, he always rejected the title of “theorist,” but prided himself on “conceptualization.”
Beyond medicalization, Peter studied the experience of epilepsy, worksite wellness programs, medical education, the social meanings of the new genetics, and illness on the internet. Graham Scambler, emeritus professor at University College London, once wrote that, when it comes to medical sociology, “people and things tend to revolve around Peter.”
Peter was elected chair of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association in 1987 and elected president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in 1995. He was a dedicated teacher, mentor, and collaborator, and had tremendous pride in the accomplishments of his graduate and undergraduate students, even long after they became his colleagues.
Beyond sociology, Peter had an enduring interest in green spaces and rural heritage in Massachusetts. He served on the Lincoln Conservation Commission, the board of Codman Community Farms, and the community board of Drumlin Farm, a site of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He also nurtured this interest in his annual vegetable garden, cultivating multiple potato varieties and giving many opportunities for his younger family members to squash potato bugs.
Peter was an avid traveler taking many journeys with his beloved wife and family. These included two sabbatical years abroad: one in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and the other in London. He was also a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and maintained close professional relationships with colleagues there through a 20-year visiting faculty appointment.
One of the great joys of his later years was reuniting with a lost branch of his maternal lineage through family research that brought multiple branches of that family together in Munich and later in Washington, D.C. Peter spoke what he called “kitchen German” from his emigre parents and engaging more deeply with his family history was deeply meaningful.
Though born in New York, Peter was a devoted Boston sports fan, particularly of his beloved Celtics, who were a constant comfort in his last years and a joy he shared with many family members and friends. After his diagnosis with Parkinson’s in 2014, he also became deeply involved with Rock Steady Boxing at SLS in Lowell to maintain strength, mobility, and community. He was supported during this time by loving caregivers, most notably Annette and Moses Mugwanya, who were with him during the last four years.
He is survived by his wife, Libby Bradshaw of Lincoln, a physician and assistant professor at Tufts Medical School; his daughter Rya Conrad-Bradshaw, an executive in EdTech in Concord; a son, Jared Conrad-Bradshaw, an educational consultant in Istanbul, Turkey; three grandchildren, Rafi, Sela, and Avi; son-in-law Drew Magliozzi, and daughter-in-law Rita Ender, both of whom he adored. He is also survived by close-in-heart family members across the world, students from multiple generations, dear friends of more than 50 years (including multiple housemates), and a dog he tolerated. He is predeceased by his sister Nina (Conrad) Furgiuele.
Peter was buried on March 5 the Lincoln Cemetery. The family will receive visitors at their home from 4–7 pm on Tuesday, March 12; Thursday, March 14; and Friday, March 15.
Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. Click here to share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Peter’s online guestbook.