This text seeks to enable medical sociology to establish a voice in key debates in the social sciences. These debates concern modernity, postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism as they relate to medical sociology. Topics include: disease and medicine in postmodern times; gender, health and the feminist debate; the sociology of health and ageing; medicine and complementary medicine; and death in postmodernity.

This text seeks to enable medical sociology to establish a voice in key debates in the social sciences. These debates concern modernity, postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism as they relate to medical sociology. Topics include: disease and medicine in postmodern times; gender, health and the feminist debate; the sociology of health and ageing; medicine and complementary medicine; and death in postmodernity.

Contemporary Theorists for Medical Sociology explores the work of key social theorists and the application of their ideas to issues around health and illness.

Encouraging students and researchers to use mainstream sociological thought to inform and deepen their knowledge and understanding of the many arenas of health and healthcare, this text discusses and critically reviews the work of several influential contemporary thinkers, including Foucault, Bauman, Habermas, Luhmann, Bourdieu, Merleau-Ponty, Wallerstein, Archer, Deleuze, Guattari, and Castells.

Each chapter...

Cafes and coffee shops have become core venues in the urban landscape, places to be social, chat with friends or colleagues, take a break or relax, or work in companionable solitude. In this edited volume, researchers from a range of social sciences and co"