Blackwell Reference Online

Including chapters from 35 leading international experts on health-related issues, The New Companion to Medical Sociology offers insights into the substantive topics of central interest in medical and health sociology. Coverage ranges from standard subjects such as theory, health and social class, racial and gender stratification, stress, and health professions, to relatively new and engaging topics like bioethics, genetics and society, newly emerging infectious diseases, and links to neuroscience.

In recent years medical sociology has evolved into a field that is both applied and theoretical, and in control of its own approach to research. The chapters in this volume not only review relevant empirical research, but are also theoretically informed.

With its global perspective and international authorship, the New Companion provides an authoritative, topical and comprehensive reference to the key concepts and the most important traditional and contemporary issues in medical sociology.