Kevin White is Reader in Sociology at the Australian National University, Canberra. He has held appointments at Flinders University, Wollongong University and Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand. He has published widely in the sociology of health and in the social history of medicine. At ANU he lectures the large introductory class, Introduction to Social Psychology, The Sociology of Health and Illness, Classical Social theory and Qualitative Methods.

Praise for second edition:Kevin White guides us through the many reasons for the centrality of health showing clearly that health and illness are the products not just of our biology but of the society into which we are born. He expertly draws on the works of Parsons, Marx, Foucault and feminist writers to provide an authoritative analysis of the social nature of health.

• IntroductionThe Social Construction of Medical KnowledgeThe Development of the Sociology of HealthPostmodernity, Epidemiology and Neo-LiberalismMaterialist Approaches to the Sociology of HealthParson, American Sociology of Medicine and the Sick RoleFoucault and the Sociology of Medical KnowledgeHealth, Gender and FeminismRace, Ethnicity and HealthConclusion

Kevin White is Reader in Sociology at the Australian National University, Canberra. He has held appointments at Flinders University, Wollongong University and Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand. He has published widely in the sociology of health and in the social history of medicine. At ANU he lectures the large introductory class, Introduction to Social Psychology, The Sociology of Health and Illness, Classical Social theory and Qualitative Methods.

Praise for second edition:Kevin White guides us through the many reasons for the centrality of health showing clearly that health and illness are the products not just of our biology but of the society into which we are born. He expertly draws on the works of Parsons, Marx, Foucault and feminist writers to provide an authoritative analysis of the social nature of health.

• IntroductionThe Social Construction of Medical KnowledgeThe Development of the Sociology of HealthPostmodernity, Epidemiology and Neo-LiberalismMaterialist Approaches to the Sociology of HealthParson, American Sociology of Medicine and the Sick RoleFoucault and the Sociology of Medical KnowledgeHealth, Gender and FeminismRace, Ethnicity and HealthConclusion

Kevin White is Reader in Sociology at the Australian National University, Canberra. He has held appointments at Flinders University, Wollongong University and Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand. He has published widely in the sociology of health and in the social history of medicine. At ANU he lectures the large introductory class, Introduction to Social Psychology, The Sociology of Health and Illness, Classical Social theory and Qualitative Methods.

Praise for second edition:Kevin White guides us through the many reasons for the centrality of health showing clearly that health and illness are the products not just of our biology but of the society into which we are born. He expertly draws on the works of Parsons, Marx, Foucault and feminist writers to provide an authoritative analysis of the social nature of health.

• IntroductionThe Social Construction of Medical KnowledgeThe Development of the Sociology of HealthPostmodernity, Epidemiology and Neo-LiberalismMaterialist Approaches to the Sociology of HealthParson, American Sociology of Medicine and the Sick RoleFoucault and the Sociology of Medical KnowledgeHealth, Gender and FeminismRace, Ethnicity and HealthConclusion