ABSTRACT
The sociology of medicine has come a long way from its origins in epidemiology and clinical practice. Like all specialist areas of study it has developed its own internal debates, its preferred core of research topics, and its own professional infrastructure for their analysis. Over the years, there has been a shift from a sociology in medicine to a sociology of medicine, and from a sociology of medicine, towards a sociology of health and illness. It is to the development of this latter perspective that the present volume is addressed.
