Medical Sociology books

Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, a revolution in mental health policy and practice known as deinstitutionalization occurred in Europe and the US. This movement was catalyzed by criticisms of psychiatric institutions and resulted in the release of thousands of people with serious mental illness from long-term care facilities into the community. It is acknowledged that these reforms held great promise, but have had numerous unintended negative consequences. Moreover, deinstitutionalization has strained the resources and reach of community-based mental health treatment systems, spilling into other institutions such as criminal justice and education. Volume 17 of Advances in Medical Sociology will examine deinstitutionalization’s legacies approximately 50 years after reintegration began, turning a critical lens toward contemporary problems and solutions related to mental illness in countries where reform occurred. This volume will highlight pressing issues around mental health treatment, social and health policy, and the lived experiences of people and families coping with mental illness that were or continue to be significantly influenced by deinstitutionalization reforms.

This volume contains papers dealing with macro-level system issues and micro-level issues involving provision of health care as related to major health problems or population health concerns. In the first chapter, the topic of population health is reviewed and examined, looking at relationships between social structure, including socioeconomic status, and health. A number of papers examine social, demographic and structural problems, and a wide variety of major health problems including chronic illnesses, mental illness, serious acute health problems, and disabilities that require health care. Some of the specific health problems covered include major chronic health problems such as coronary heart diseases and arthritis, as well as HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases, obesity and how to deal with obesity, mental health concerns, poverty, homelessness and health care problems with a focus on urban contexts within the United States. The last two papers in the volume extend the focus to look at more international concerns. One paper focuses on urban slum prevalence as a key factor in shaping population level rates of social well being in developing countries, and another on medical tourism. This volume includes papers that focus on the perspectives of patients, providers, and also the relevant links with health policy.

Our understandings of addiction are rapidly changing. New technologies and biomedical treatments are reconfiguring addiction as a brain disease, and the concept of "addiction" is expanding to cover an ever widening array of substances and behaviours, from food to shopping. This volume looks critically at how addiction has been framed historically, how it is characterized and understood through contemporary cultural representations, how new treatments and technologies are reconfiguring addiction, and how "addiction" is being expanded beyond illicit drugs and alcohol to explain phenomena such as "excessive" eating and gambling and the exponential rise in prescription narcotic use. It also examines how medical, behavioural and punitive frameworks come together to shape and control "addicts." Featuring the work of several up-and-coming scholars working to deepen theoretical perspectives on addiction and its relationship to social control and deviance, this volume fills a gap in addiction studies by offering critical perspectives that interrogate and challenge traditional and/or mainstream understandings of addiction.

Drawing on ecosystem thinking, complexity and postnormal science, Ecological Health offers a radical new way of thinking about the health issues of the 21st Century. This volume reflects on recent social scientific engagement with Ecosystem Health research and practice and sets out a vision for the future. While significant links between human health and the environment are increasingly evident, how to make sense of the interdependence of human health on natural systems is posing significant challenges. Ecological health is a new approach used by medics, public health practitioners, veterinarians, as well as social and natural scientists who study health at the nexus between human, animal and ecological systems. This volume is a reference tool offering a sociological analysis of the interrelationship between society, earth systems and health as conceptual frameworks. The authors provide methodological tools for conducting social science research that integrates social, natural and medical systems. It will appeal to a broad audience of researchers and practitioners who currently work in the arena of ecology and health and as well as those interested in expanding their research.

The 30th Anniversary volume of Research in the Sociology of Health Care looks at the important links between major social factors and health and health care. The four main factors examined in the book are race/ethnicity, immigration, Socioeconomic Status (SES) and gender. Starting with an introductory chapter which reviews some of the important sociological literature on these social factors as linked to health, the book goes on to cover various key issues, including obesity, ageing, immigration and racial segregation.

This volume looks at the key links between social determinants, health disparities and health and health care. There is a particular focus on macro-level systems and micro-level issues, including the examination of issues for patients, carers and providers of care. Coverage includes papers on geographical and place factors and disparities, SES and race/ethnicity factors, chronic care and serious health problems such as HIV/AIDs and kidney transplantation, comparative aspects and perceptions of health disparities. Starting with an introduction that reviews the crucial sociological literature on social determinants and health disparities, papers in this volume go on to cover key themes including ageing, barriers to care, ethnicity, social inequalities, the views of parents on their children's care, and doctor/patient relationships.