Medical Sociology is among the largest and first subdisciplines in Sociology. It is an area of ongoing work, advancing theory, method and our substantive understanding of social life. This series brings together the newest issues and most current concerns in Medical Sociology, in an ongoing collection of edited volumes. Each volume is edited by a medical sociologist with a particular expertise, bringing together contributions from sociologists working in different settings and nations, exploring one particular advance in Medical Sociology.

Diagnosis is central to medical practice, medical knowledge and research, medicalization dynamics, and health and illness experience. Embedded in social relations, diagnoses reflect and shape social dynamics and cultural concerns. Diagnoses are integral to resource allocation, form the basis for identities, and may become a focal point of turf battles and contested authority. Some diagnoses are willingly embraced, whereas others are strenuously resisted. Some diagnoses come and go as fashions; others persist. A sociological approach to diagnosis therefore occupies a complex intersection of...

This volume addresses the need for sociological insight through empirically rich, theoretically innovative chapters that range across methods, traditions and foci in order to cast new light on the place, role and impact of neuroscience.