The Sociology of the Health Service responds directly to the need to develop a sociological analysis of current health policy. Topics covered vary from privatisation and health service management to health education and the politics of professional power. Also included is an histroical review of sociology's contributions to health policy and proposals for an agenda for sociological health policy research in the 1990s.

In Life After Ninety Micheal Bury and Anthea Holme have surveyed and interviewed 200 individuals, living at home and in institutions, to examine old age stereotypes and present a unique picture of the health, quality of life, and social circumstances of the very old. Longevity and the factors which promote it are also discussed, and throughout the book the concept of the 'life course' is employed, which brings together the biographical experiences of individuals, and the changing historical circumstances of the twentieth century, through which they have lived.