ABSTRACT

The reception of Michel Foucault's work in the social sciences and humanities has been phenomenal. Foucault's concepts and methodology have encouraged new approaches to old problems and opened up new lines of enquiry. This book assesses the contribution of Foucault's work to research and thinking in the area of health and medicine, and shows how key researchers in the sociology of health and illness are currently engaging with his ideas.
Foucault, Health and Medicine explores such important issues as: Foucault's concept of 'discourse', the critique of the 'medicalization' thesis, the analysis of the body and the self, Foucault's concept of 'bio-power' in the analysis of health education, the implications of Foucault's ideas for feminist research on embodiment and gendered subjectivities, the application of Foucault's notion of governmentality to the analysis of health policy, health promotion, and the consumption of health.
Foucault, Health and Medicine offers a `state of the art' overview of Foucaldian scholarship in the area of health and medicine. It will provide a key reference for both students and researchers working in the areas of medical sociology, health policy, health promotion and feminist studies.

part I|38 pages

Fabricating Foucault

chapter Chapter 1|16 pages

Foucault and the sociology of health and illness

A prismatic reading

chapter Chapter 2|20 pages

Is there life after Foucault?

Texts, frames and differends

part II|60 pages

Discourses of health and medicine

part III|59 pages

The body, the self

chapter |21 pages

Is health education good for you?

Re-thinking health education through the concept of bio-power

chapter Chapter 7|17 pages

Bodies at risk

Sex, surveillance and hormone replacement therapy

chapter Chapter 8|19 pages

Foucault, embodiment and gendered subjectivities

The case of voluntary self-starvation

part IV|78 pages

Govemmentality