Medicine, Health and Society

Prologue: Sociology, Medicine and Medical Sociology 

Introduction  

Medical Sociology and Its Relationship with Sociology  
Theory and Application  
Sociology and Medicine  
Interdisciplinarity and Multidisciplinarity  
References   

Introducing the Sociology of Medicine, Health and Society   Social Theory and the Sociology of Health and Medicine 
Introduction  
Parsons and Functionalism  
Criticism of Parsons\' Idealized Type  
Theories of Conflict and Political Economy  
Inequalities and Social Stratification  
Interactionism  
Phenomenology  
Modernity and Post-Modernity  
Social Constructionism  
Post-Structuralism and Structuralism  
Criticism of Constructionism  
Conclusion  
References   

Health Inequalities 
Introduction  
Theory and Inequality  
Inequity and Inequality  
Measurement of Inequality  
The Pattern of Health Inequalities  
Causes of Inequalities  
Healthcare and Inequalities  
Global Inequality  
Conclusion   

Women, Gender and Feminism 
Introduction  
Feminism  
Gendered Visibility  
Gendered Polarity and Theorizing Difference  
Reconceptualizing Gender  
Undoing Polarities  
Health Inequalities  
Morbidity, Gender and the Effect of Work  
Conclusion  
References   

Ethnicity, Racism and Difference 
Introduction  
Background - UK  
Background - USA  
Sociology of Race Relations  
Ethnicity and Health Inequalities  
Mental Health  
Conclusion  
References   

Bodies, Pain and Suffering 
Introduction  
The Sociological Body  
Dissecting the Body  
Cultural Bodies  
Biotechnological Bodies  
Embodiment  
Bodies and Disabilities  
Bodies and Narrative  
Mute Bodies  
Meta-Narrative and Suffering  
Conclusion  
References   

The Workings of Medicine 
Introduction  
Background  
Medicine\'s Golden Age  
Medical Power  
Medical Imperialism  
Proletarianization, Deprofessionalization and Corporatization  
Challenging Medicine: Efficacy, Efficiency, Accessibility  
Efficacy, Equity and Efficiency  
Managers, Managerialism and Markets  
Challenging Equity  
Has the NHS Improved?  
The Doctor-Patient Relationship in a Regulatory Framework  
The Legal Challenge  
Consumerism in Medicine  
Specialization  
Alternative Medical Practitioners  
Medical Tourism  
Medicalization in a Digital Era  
Conclusion  
References   

Conclusion 
Introduction  
The Practice of Medicine  
Medical Encounters  
Biotechnology  
Ethics and Expectations of Biotechnological Innovation  
The Culture of Bioethics  
Global Health  
Medical Migration  
Global Suffering and Sociology  
Conclusion  
References  
Glossary of Terms