Health and illness are intensely personal matters. It seems self evident that health is a basic necessity of the 'good life', though it is often taken for granted. Illness, on the other hand challenges our sense of security and may introduce acute anxiety into our lives. Health and Illness in a Changing Society provides a lively and critical account of the impact of social change on the experience of health and illness. It also examines the different sociological perspectives that have been used to analyse health matters. While some of the ideas developed in the last twenty years...

Contributors examine the relationship between science and clinical practice; the development, assessment and regulation of health care technologies; and the implications of the 'new genetics'.

This Reader introduces students of sociology and health care to the changing fields of medical knowledge and medical work.

• Provides a chronicle of reseach in the field of medical knowledge, medical work and health care over the past 25 years.
  
• Summarises changes in how health care was delivered and how medical knowledge and practice were conceptualised over this period.
  
• Section introductions by the editors situate the articles within a wider body of literature.
  
• A valuable resource for student of sociiology, social...