The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology

William C. Cockerham is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Center for Social Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA). He is President of the Research Committee on Health Sociology of the International Sociological Association and a current member of the Editorial Board of the American Sociological Review. His recent books include Social Causes of Health and Disease (2007), Medical Sociology, 11th edition (2010), and the co-authored Health and Globalization (2010).

List of Contributors viii

Preface xv

PART I INTRODUCTION 1

1 Medical Sociology and Sociological Theory 3
William C. Cockerham and Graham Scambler

2 Health and Culture 27
Stella Quah

3 The Sociology of the Body 47
Sarah Nettleton

PART II HEALTH AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 69

4 Health and Social Stratification 71
Eero Lahelma

5 Health Status and Gender 97
Ellen Annandale

6 Health, Ethnicity, and Race 113
Hannah Bradby and James Y. Nazroo

PART III HEALTH AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS 131

7 Health and Religion 133
Ellen L. Idler

8 Health Lifestyles: Bringing Structure Back 159
William C. Cockerham

9 Social Capital and Health 184
Lijun Song, Joonmo Son, and Nan Lin

10 Medicalization, Social Control, and the Relief of Suffering 211
Joseph E. Davis

11 Stress 242
William R. Avison and Stephanie S. Thomas

12 Stress in the Workplace 268
Johannes Siegrist

PART IV HEALTH AND DISEASE 289

13 Emerging Infectious Diseases, Urbanization, and Globalization in the Time of Global Warming 291
George J. Armelagos and Kristin N. Harper

14 Chronic Illness 312
Kathy Charmaz and Dana Rosenfeld

PART V HEALTH CARE DELIVERY 335

15 Health Professions and Occupations 337
Elianne Riska

16 Challenges to the Doctor–Patient Relationship in the Twenty-First Century 355
Jennifer Vanderminden and Sharyn J. Potter

17 Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Processes of Legitimation, Professionalization, and Cooption 373
Hans A. Baer

18 The American Health Care System: Beginning the Twenty-First Century with High Risk, Major Challenges, and Great Opportunities 391
Bernice A. Pescosolido and Carol A. Boyer

19 The British Health Care System 412
Michael Bury

20 The Convergence and Divergence of Modern Health Care Systems 434
Fred Stevens

21 Social Policies and Health Inequalities 455
Amélie Quesnel-Vallée and Tania Jenkins

PART VI NEW DEVELOPMENTS 485

22 A Sociological Gaze on Bioethics 487
Kristina Orfali and Raymond G. DeVries

23 Medical Sociology and Genetics 511
Paul A. Martin and Robert Dingwall

24 New Developments in Neuroscience and Medical Sociology 530
Simon J. Williams

Author Index 552

Subject Index 584