ABSTRACT
This introduction offers a general outline of the relationship between models of citizenship, the definition of health and illness and the practice of health care on the other. First, it explains the linking of health and citizenship relevant for medical historiography and offers a new perspective on familiar subjects. Secondly, the chapter elaborates the concepts of health and citizenship and demonstrates that they are essentially contested and historically layered concepts. Thirdly, it offers a historical overview of the changing relation between health and citizenship from the late eighteenth century to the present. The chapter concludes by returning to recent developments and problems in public health and medical ethics. It focuses on the role of citizenship with respect to health, and shifts attention from the social control perspective to an outlook that acknowledges human agency and redresses the balance between repressive and empowering effects. This chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.
