ABSTRACT

Health care systems, the role of health professionals and the experience of health and illness are all undergoing change and development as we enter the twenty-first century. The Sociology and Politics of Health is a collection of key readings through which to explore the sociological and political dimensions of health, illness and health care. Combining classic pieces with more up-to-date contributions, it includes examples taken from current domestic and international initiatives and draws on humanist, materialist, feminist and constructionalist perspectives. The Sociology and Politics of Health covers:
* ideology and policy
* social stratification
* professionalisation
* the experience of health and illness.
* This reader offers health studies students, nurses and other health professionals an invaluable introduction to an increasingly important field of social inquiry.

part |2 pages

PART I Ideology and policy

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 3|6 pages

The road to serfdom*

Individualism and collectivism

chapter 5|5 pages

Everyone a private patient*

Reliance on taxation has caused endemic underfunding

chapter 6|5 pages

Supporting families HOME OFFICE

part |2 pages

PART II Social stratification and health

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 11|7 pages

The Black Report*

The evidence of inequalities in health The pattern of health inequality in contemporary Britain

chapter 13|7 pages

What makes women sick*

A picture of health?

chapter 15|8 pages

Beyond the Black Report*

Structure and agency

chapter 16|12 pages

The Acheson Report*

part |2 pages

PART III Professionalisation and health

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 17|5 pages

The profession of medicine*

chapter 18|9 pages

Governmentality and the institutionalization of expertise*

Larson and Foucault: expertise and governmentality

chapter 19|7 pages

The rise of surveillance medicine*

Problematisation of the normal

chapter 21|5 pages

The modern rise of population*

chapter 22|9 pages

From tribalism to corporatism: the managerial challenge to medical dominance

The managerial challenge to medical dominance*

part |2 pages

PART IV Experiencing health and illness

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 24|4 pages

Lay concepts of health*

chapter 26|5 pages

Going to see the doctor*

The face-to-face interaction

chapter 27|9 pages

Managing courtesy stigma: the case of Alzheimer’s disease

The case of Alzheimer’s disease*

chapter 28|11 pages

Researching women’s health work*

Introducing the study: the social and material contexts of health-related behaviour

chapter 29|9 pages

The body in consumer society*

chapter 30|7 pages

Containing the body*

Continence

chapter 31|14 pages

A good enough death*