Examines the social changes that have affected capitalist societies, and their ramifications for health. This book reviews the major paradigms of medical sociology and considers theories of the 'postmodern turn'. It draws on critical realism and critical theory to show the shift from organized to disorganized capitalism for health care reform.

What does modern medical science know about menstruation? The menstrual cycle is less well understood by physicians than is commonly assumed and medical understanding of disorders associated with it are also limited. This study challenges the orthodox thinking in both society and medicine on menstruation. The authors base their study on women's own experiences and accounts of menstruation and menstrual disorders, drawing on a wide range of studies including their own.

The growth of AIDS has focused renewed attention on the institution of prostitution. In contrast to the moral panic reaction of some sectors of society, very different initiatives are being displayed by other groups in relation to the need to scrutinize the social, moral and legal status of prostitution and to reflect on the arguments in support of and against legalising brothels, paying particular concern to prostitutes' own health.
Rethinking Prostitution covers male as well as female sex workers and considers in detail their status in law; drugs; issues of health and health...

The growth of AIDS has focused renewed attention on the institution of prostitution. In contrast to the moral panic reaction of some sectors of society, very different initiatives are being displayed by other groups in relation to the need to scrutinize the social, moral and legal status of prostitution and to reflect on the arguments in support of and against legalising brothels, paying particular concern to prostitutes' own health.
Rethinking Prostitution covers male as well as female sex workers and considers in detail their status in law; drugs; issues of health and health...

Jurgen Habermas is a leading social theorist of his generation, many of whose contributions have considerable relevance to medical sociology and areas of concern in the health arena. This volume not only provides a substantial introduction to the work of Habermas, but shows how his theories provide opportunites for new thinking on many health topics. These include: lay health knowledge, doctor-patient interaction, health care decision-making, health inequalities, health care rationing, self-help movements, medicalization, and the role of the critical sociologist. This text provides a resource...

The contribution of the German sociologist and philosopher Jurgen Habermas has proved seminal for attempts to understand the nature of social change in the context of global capitalism. This book provides an accessible introduction to his work and shows how his theories can be fruitfully applied to a wide range of topics in the sociology of health and illness including:
* lay health knowledge
* doctor-patient interaction
* health care decision-making
* health inequalities
* new social movements in health
* health care rationing
* the Foucault perspective.
...

Medical sociology was first recognizable as a distinct area of study in the 1950s and is now probably the largest specialized area of sociology. This collection comprises a comprehensive statement of the history, current concerns and relevance of medical sociology to an understanding of health and health care worldwide. The articles included are genuinely international in two important respects: they represent the best of contemporary scholarship worldwide, and they have applicability to all types of society and health care systems.
A general introduction in the first volume provides a...

Drawing on patients' accounts, Graham Scambler examines the experience of both epilepsy and the stigma that can accompany it and illuminates the contribution that social science can make to understanding and managing the illness.

This is a succinct and comprehensive account of the contemporary sociology of sport. It starts by tracing the key 'moments' in the transition from pre-modern to modern sport, giving detailed accounts of the athletic competition in the ancient games at Olympia; the genesis of modern track-and-field athletics in nineteenth-century England; and the reconstruction by de Coubertin and unfolding of the Olympic movement through the twentieth century.

Bringing together disability theorists and medical sociologists for the first time in this cutting-edge collection, contributors examine chronic illness and disability, disability theory, doctor-patient encounters, lifeworld issues and the new genetics.