Modernity, medicine, and health : medical sociology towards 2000

An opportunity for medical sociology to establish a voice in the key debates in social science today; modernity, postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism. Essential reading for students of the sociology of medicine, health and illness. Content: Book Cover; Half-Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of contributors; Chapter 1 Postmodernity and health; Chapter 2 The promise of postmodernism for the sociology of health and medicine; Chapter 3 Medical sociology and modernity; Chapter 4 Issues at the interface of medical sociology and public health; Chapter 5 Explaining health inequalities; Chapter 6 Gender, health and the feminist debate on postmodernism; Chapter 7 In search of the 'missing body'; Chapter 8 Ageing, the lifecourse and the sociology of embodiment. Chapter 9 Risk, governmentality and the reconceptualization of citizenshipChapter 10 Medicine and complementary medicine; Chapter 11 Postmodern adventures of life and death; Index. Abstract: An opportunity for medical sociology to establish a voice in the key debates in social science today; modernity, postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism. Essential reading for students of the sociology of medicine, health and illness Education, Politics & IR, Sociology & Social Policy Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 5 List of contributors 7 Introduction 10 Chapter 1 Postmodernity and health 20 POSTMODERNISM, POSTMODERNITY AND THEIR VICISSITUDES 21 OBJECTIFICATION 24 RATIONALIZATION 28 SUBJECTIFICATION 30 POSTMODERNITY, HEALTH AND ILLNESS 35 Agency 37 Knowledge 39 Power 41 CONCLUDING REMARKS 43 NOTE 44 REFERENCES 44 Chapter 2 The promise of postmodernism for the sociology of health and medicine 48 THREE PROMISES 49 THE DETECTIVE AND THE NOMAD 50 THE GIFT AND THE PROPER 55 NOMADOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS 58 REFERENCES 62 Chapter 3 Medical sociology and modernity 64 A RECONSTRUCTED ENLIGHTENMENT PROJECT AND A CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY 65 DISCOURSE ETHICS, JUSTICE AND SOLIDARITY 68 CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE 71 CRITICAL SOCIOLOGISTS AS INTELLECTUALS OR CRITICS 74 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY 77 CONCLUSION 81 REFERENCES 82 Chapter 4 Issues at the interface of medical sociology and public health 84 SOCIOLOGY ‘OF’ PUBLIC HEALTH 85 SOCIOLOGY AT THE ‘INTERFACE' OF PUBLIC HEALTH: THE QUEST FOR SOCIAL AETIOLOGY 87 Social class and health 88 Distribution of wealth 89 Gender roles 90 Structure and social aetiology 91 SOCIOLOGY ‘IN’ PUBLIC HEALTH 92 Medicalization 93 Design of community public health promotion interventions 93 SUMMARY 95 REFERENCES 96 Chapter 5 Explaining health inequalities 100 A LACK OF SOPHISTICATION? 102 Class theory 102 Class analysis 104 A LACK OF EXPLANATORY POWER? 105 ASPECTS OF THE THEORETICAL DEFICIT 107 SOME POINTERS FOR RESEARCH ON CLASS-RELATED HEALTH INEQUALITIES 111 CONCLUSION 114 REFERENCES 115 Chapter 6 Gender, health and the feminist debate on postmodernism 118 FEMINIST THINKING AND THE POSTMODERN 119 POSTMODERNISM, GENDER AND HEALTH 125 POSTMODERNISM, BIOLOGY AND THE BODY 130 ISSUES OF WOMEN’S HEALTH 133 FEMALE CIRCUMCISION 135 REFERENCES 139 Chapter 7 In search of the ‘missing body’ 144 PAIN AND THE (POST) MODERN CONDITION: WHO DESIRES A BODY WITHOUT ORGANS (BwO)? 145 PAIN, EMOTIONS AND THE ‘MINDFUL’ BODY (WITH ORGANS) 152 PAIN, NARRATIVE AND CULTURE: FROM FOUNDATIONALISM TO SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM 158 CONCLUSIONS 161 NOTES 162 REFERENCES 163 Chapter 8 Ageing, the lifecourse and the sociology of embodiment 166 AGEING AND THE LIFECOURSE 166 THE SOCIOLOGY OF EMBODIMENT 174 TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURES 180 REFERENCES 191 Chapter 9 Risk, governmentality and the reconceptualization of citizenship 196 RISK SOCIETY 196 RISK ASSESSMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY 201 GOVERNMENTALITY 205 CITIZENSHIP 206 GOVERNMENTALITY, CITIZENSHIP AND RISK 208 CONCLUSION 213 NOTES 214 REFERENCES 214 Chapter 10 Medicine and complementary medicine 218 MODERNITY AND BIOMEDICINE: THE COUNTER-CULTURAL CRITIQUE 219 POSTMODERNITY AND THE RISE OF COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE 223 THE CRITIQUE OF POSTMODERNITY IN THE HEALTH CONTEXT 227 CONCLUSION 231 REFERENCES 232 Chapter 11 Postmodern adventures of life and death 236 NOTES 250 REFERENCES 251 Index 252 "Social change in the past quarter of a century has had a considerable impact on health and medicine. Modernity, Medicine and Health brings together a variety of influential sociologists who present their theories on the nature and depth of change, and on the modernity/postmodernity debates, and apply them to issues of health and healing. Among the issues covered are the parameters of the futures of medical sociology itself, the potential and limitations of the postmodern perspective, the interface with public health, analyses of class and gender, new notions of citizenship, complementary medicine, and life and death in postmodern times."--Publisher description

Social change in the past quarter of a century has had a considerable impact on health and medicine. Modernity, Medicine and Health brings together a variety of influential sociologists who present their theories on the nature and depth of change, and on the modernity/postmodernity debates, and apply them to issues of health and healing. Among the issues covered are the parameters of the futures of medical sociology itself, the potential and limitations of the postmodern perspective, the interface with public health, analyses of class and gender, new notions of citizenship, complementary medicine, and life and death in postmodern times.

This book establishes the voice of medical sociology in key debates in the social sciences. Concerning modernity, postmodernity, structuralism and poststructuralism issues covered include: * disease and medicine in postmodern times * gender, health and the feminist debate on the postmodern * ageing, the lifecourse and the sociology of health and ageing * medicine and complementary medicine * death in postmodernity.