To survive in a changing social environment of medical care in Japan, medical students should learn viewpoints and methods of social sciences. In recent years in Japan, the importance of primary and community care is increasing due to the change of the disease structure in an aging society. Future talented doctors should be competent mediators between hospital medical and community care. In community care, it is necessary to understand clients in socio-cultural contexts. Social sciences can provide viewpoints and methods to understand people in such contexts. Social sciences can also provide a macroscopic understanding of the influence of the social structure on the medical system.

　Case studies and PBL may be suitable to learn viewpoints and methods of social sciences in medical education. So, the accumulation of cases which sufficiently provide problems to be analyzed by the methods of social sciences is necessary. The collaboration of medical practitioners and social scientists is also necessary to develop these teaching materials and education methods.