A comprehensive collection of classic and contemporary readings in the sociology of health. The Sociology of Healthcare will stimulate debate, reflexive practice and critical thinking in applied sociology and is aimed at the teaching and learning needs of both lecturers and students.

Dedication Acknowledgements Thinking Sociologically about Health and Healthcare PART I: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTH AND HEALTHCAREIntroduction; The Political Economy of Health and Health Care; Ellen AnnandaleThe Medicalisation of Reproduction; Pamela Abbott, Claire Wallace and Melissa TylerThe Social Role of Medicine; David ArmstrongThe Sociological Construction of Medicine; Paul AtkinsonThe Sociological Imagination; Charles Wright MillsPART II: MAKING SENSE OF HEALTHIntroduction; Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches; Keith F. PunchHistorical Data for Health Inequalities; Sara Mallinson, Jennie Popay, Eva Elliot, Sharon Bennett, Lisa Bostock, Anthony Gatrell, Carol Thomas and Gareth Williams Practice-based Evidence; Nick J. Fox'Traditional' and 'Emancipatory' Research; Beth HumphriesWomen Respondents in Health Research; Helen RobertsEthics and Ethics Committees; Carole TrumanPART III: INEQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY IN HEALTH Introduction; The Politics of Victim Blaming; Robert CrawfordThe Determinants of Geographical Inequalities in Health; Heather Joshi, Richard D. Wiggins, Mel Bartley, Richard Mitchell, Simon Gleave and Kevin LynchChildren Reflecting on Health; Kathryn Backett-Milburn, Sarah Cunningham-Burley and John DavisGender and Women's Health; Lesley DoyalMeasuring and Understanding Ethnic Inequalities in Health; Mel BartleyPART IV: BODIES, MINDS AND EMOTIONS Introduction; The Body, Medicine and Death; Deborah Lupton'Enhancing' the Body; Peter Conrad and Heather T. JacobsonHumour and Illness; Alison Chapple and Sue ZieblandAnorexia as Disability; Stephanie Tierney'Dirty Work'; Ian ShawEmotion Work in Midwifery; Billie HunterPART V: POWER, PROFESSIONS AND PRACTICE Introduction; The Characteristics of a Profession; Eliot FriedsonThe Professionalisation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Merrijoy Kelner, Beverly Wellman, Heather Boon and Sandy WelshThe Feminisation of Dentistry; Tracey L. AdamsOccupational Boundaries in the Operating Theatre; Stephen Timmons and Judith TannerChoosing to be Childfree; Annily CampbellThe Internet and the Doctor-Patient Relationship; Alex Broom.