The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology

William C. Cockerham is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Chair Emeritus at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, and Research Scholar of Sociology at the College of William & Mary, USA. He is past President of the Research Committee on Health Sociology of the International Sociological Association, and has held editorial positions on a number of journals, including the American Sociological Review, the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Society and Mental Health. His recent books include Sociological Theories of Health and Illness and Social Causes of Health and Disease.

PART I INTRODUCTION

Medical Sociology and Sociological Theory
Health and Culture
The Sociology of the Body

PART II HEALTH AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES

Health and Social Stratification
Health Status and Gender
Health, Ethnicity, and Race

PART III HEALTH AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Health and Religion
Health Lifestyles: Bringing Structure Back
Social Capital and Health
Medicalization, Social Control, and the Relief of Suffering
Stress in the Workplace

PART IV HEALTH AND DISEASE

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Chronic Illness

PART V HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

Health Professions and Occupations
Challenges to the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The American Health Care System
The British Health Care System
The Chinese Health Care System
The Convergence and Divergence of Modern Health Care Systems
Social Policies and Health Inequalities

PART VI NEW DEVELOPMENTS

A Sociological Gaze on Bioethics
Medical Sociology and Genetics
New Developments in Neuroscience and Medical Sociology