Phil Brown has designed this book to make discussion of the issues of medical sociology interesting, accessible, & challenging.

This book shows the potential of posthuman thinking for rethinking health care, experiences, subjects and interventions. It explores a range of posthuman dilemmas across diverse health issues as contributors grapple with the ethical, ontological and epistemological relations of knowing and doing health. The volume problematizes the rational, agentic individual as the key driver of health-related action and experience. Contributors move beyond long-held humanist assumptions about health, illness, and well-being and attune – theoretically and methodologically - to the entangled relations or ecologies that instantiate realities. They reimagine how care practices and healthcare experiences materialise through human-non-human relationality as biosocial environments. Chapters explore and articulate the agency of more-than-human entities in health-related processes to shed new light on health interventions, evaluations, and health policy. Taken together, the book highlights that although posthumanism enables health sociologists to progress particular agendas, it is essential to further problematise the posthuman decentring of the human by bringing sustained attention to bear on the ethical and political implications of this approach to knowledge-making in health. This field-defining collection consolidates and builds momentum in the burgeoning area of posthuman thinking in health. It will appeal to scholars and researchers seeking to understand health as a relational achievement better. This book was originally published as a special issue of Health Sociology Review.

This book presents a comprehensive discussion of classical ideas, core topics, currents and detailed theoretical underpinnings in medical sociology. It is a globally renowned source and reference for those interested in social dimensions of health and illness. The presentation is enriched with explanatory and illustrative styles. The design and illustration of details will shift the minds of the readers from mere classroom discourse to societal context (the space of health issues), to consider the implications of those ideas in a way that could guide health interventions. The elemental strengths are the sociological illustrations from African context, rooted in deep cultural interpretations necessitated because Africa bears a greater brunt of health problems. More so, the classical and current epistemological and theoretical discourse presented in this book are indicative of core themes in medical sociology in particular, but cut across a multidisciplinary realm including health social sciences (e.g., medical anthropology, health psychology, medical demography, medical geography and health economics) and health studies (medicine, public health, epidemiology, bioethics and medical humanities) in general. Therefore, apart from the book’s relevance as a teaching text of medical sociology for academics, it is also meant for students at various levels and all health professionals who require a deeper understanding of social dimensions of health and illness (with illustrations from the African context) and sociological contributions to health studies in general.

Medical or hio- ethics has in recent years been a growth industry. Journals, Centers and Associations devoted to the subject proliferate. Medical schools seem increasingly to be filling rare positions in the humanities and social sciences with ethicists. Hardly a day passes without some media scrutiny of one or another ethical dilemma resulting from our new-found ability to transform the natural conditions of life. Although bioethics is a self-consciously interdisciplinary field, it has not attracted the collaboration of many social scientists. In fact, social scientists who specialize in the study of medicine have in many cases watched its development with a certain ambivalence. No one disputes the significance and often the painfulness of the issues and choices being addressed. But there is something about the way these issues are usually handled which seems somehow inappropri ate if not wrong-headed to one trained in a discipline like sociology or history. In their analyses of complex situations, ethicists often appear grandly oblivious to the social and cultural context in which these occur, and indeed to empirical referents of any sort. Nor do they seem very conscious of the cultural specificity of many of the values and procedures they utilize when making ethical judg ments. The unease felt by many in the social sciences was given articulate expression in a paper by Renee Fox and Judith Swazey which appeared in 1984.

This new edition of Staying Alive provides readers with a fresh perspective on health, health care, and illness in Canada and abroad. Grounded in a human rights approach to health, this edited collection includes chapters on the social construction of illness and disability, social determinants of health, and current critical issues in the field. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and includes recent national and international developments in health care, with current world statistics and an emphasis on austerity-related changes and their effects on health and health care systems. It includes chapters on pharmaceutical policy, social class, women’s health, and the impact of economic forces such as globalization and privatization in health care.

How do we understand health in relation to society? What role do social processes, structures and culture play in shaping our experiences of health and illness? How do we understand medicine and healthcare within a sociological framework? Drawing on international literature and examples, this new edition of Key Concepts in Medical Sociology: · Systematically explains the concepts that have preoccupied medical sociology from its inception, and which have shaped the field as it exists today. · Includes new entries, such as pandemics and epidemics, the environment, intersectionality, pharmaceuticalization, medical tourism and sexuality. · Begins each entry with a definition of the concept then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses, and concludes with suggested further reading for independent learning. Key Concepts in Medical Sociology is essential reading for students in medical sociology as well as those undertaking professional training in health-related disciplines.

"Fills an important gap in medical sociology. In an era of information overload, busy scholars and students will appreciate these accessible introductions to the field's key concepts." - Alan Petersen, Monash University "A handbook for any student to have by their side as they embark on any course exploring the sociology of health, medicine and disease." - Jessica Clark, University Campus Suffolk "A really useful collection of concise, accessible and informative mini essays on a range of medical concepts and conceptualisations. The book is ideal for students, including those following health professional courses, and for more seasoned academics and scholars. A very handy volume." - Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, Lincoln University How do we understand health in relation to society? What role does culture play in shaping our experiences of, and orientation to, health and illness? How do we understand medicine and medical treatment within a sociological framework? Medical sociology is a dynamic and complex field of study, comprising many concepts which students sometimes find difficult to grasp. This title manages to successfully elucidate this conceptual terrain. The text systematically explains the key concepts that have preoccupied medical sociologists from its inception and which have shaped the field as it exists today. Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition: Provides a systematic and accessible introduction to medical sociology Includes new relevant entries as well as classic concepts Begins each entry with a definition of the concept, then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses Offers further reading guidance for independent learning Draws on international literature and examples. This title has proved hugely popular among students in medical sociology as well as those undertaking professional training in health-related disciplines. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to find an easily accessible, yet critical and thoughtful, information source about the building blocks of medical sociology and the sociology of health and illness.

A comprehensive collection of original essays by leading medical sociologists from around the world, fully updated to reflect contemporary research and global health issues The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology is an authoritative overview of the most recent research, major theoretical approaches, and central issues and debates within the field. Bringing together contributions from an international team of leading scholars, this wide-ranging volume summarizes significant new developments and discusses a broad range of globally-relevant topics. The Companion's twenty-eight chapters contain timely, theoretically-informed coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and emerging diseases, bioethics, healthcare delivery systems, health disparities associated with migration, social class, gender, and race. It also explores mental health, the family, religion, and many other real-world health concerns. The most up-to-date and comprehensive single-volume reference on the key concepts and contemporary issues in medical sociology, this book: Presents thematically-organized essays by authors who are recognized experts in their fields Features new chapters reflecting state-of-the-art research and contemporary issues relevant to global health Covers vital topics such as current bioethical debates and the global effort to cope with the coronavirus pandemic Discusses the important relationship between culture and health in a global context Provide fresh perspectives on the sociology of the body, biomedicalization, health lifestyle theory, doctor-patient relations, and social capital and health The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in medical sociology, health studies, and health care, as well as for academics, researchers, and practitioners wanting to keep pace with new developments in the field.

Social change has placed new demands on the practice of medicine, altering almost every aspect of patient care relationships. Just as medicine was encouraged to embrace the biological sciences some 100 years ago, recent directives indicate the importance of the social sciences in understanding biomedical practice. Humanistic challenges call for changes in curative and technological imperatives. In this book, social scientists contribute to such challenges by using social evidence to indicate appropriate new goals for health care in a changing environment. This book was designed to stimulate and challenge all those concerned with the human interactions that constitute medical practice. To encompass a wide range of topics, the authors include researchers; practicing physicians from the specialties of family, general, geriatric, pediatric, and oncological medicine; social and behavioral scientists; and public health representatives. Cutting across disciplinary boundaries, they explore the ethical, economic, and social aspects of patient care. These essays draw on past studies of the patient-doctor relationship and generate new and important questions. They address social behavior in patient care as a way to approach theoretical issues pertinent to the social and medical sciences. The authors also use social variables to study patient care and suggest new areas of sociomedical inquiry and new approaches to medical practice, education, and research. Its cross-disciplinary approach and jargon-free writing make this book an important and accessible tool for physician, scholar, and student.

An authoritative, topical, and comprehensive reference to the key concepts and most important traditional and contemporary issues in medical sociology. Contains 35 chapters by recognized experts in the field, both established and rising young scholars Covers standard topics in the field as well as new and engaging issues such as bioterrorism, bioethics, and infectious disease Chapters are thematically arranged to cover the major issues of the sub-discipline Global range of contributors and an international perspective