The Sociology of Health and Illness

Peter Conrad is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Brandeis University. His work focuses on the sociology of health and illness, deviance, medicalization, new genetics, and the sociology of ADHD. He has published over 100 articles and a dozen books, including The Medicalization of Society (2007), and most recently, coedited Global Perspectives on ADHD (2018). He received the Lee Founder’s Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems (for lifetime contributions) and the Leo G. Reeder Award for “outstanding contributions to medical Sociology” from the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. Valerie Leiter is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at Simmons College. She received the Irving K. Zola Award for Emerging Scholars in Disability Studies. Much of her work focuses on children and youth with disabilities, including her book, Their Time has Come: Youth with Disabilities on the Cusp of Adulthood (Rutgers University Press). She has two current projects, one focused on individuals′ experiences with autoimmune conditions, and the other on the Food and Drug Administration′s regulation of women′s health medical devices. Her teaching addresses health and illness, disability, children and youth, and sociological methods.

Comprehensive and adaptable to a number of pedagogical approaches.

• PART I. THE SOCIAL PRODUCTION OF DISEASE AND THE MEANINGS OF ILLNESSChapter 1. The Social Nature of DiseaseReading 1. Medical Measures and the Decline of Mortality - John B. McKinlay and Sonja M. McKinlayReading 2. Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities - Jo C. Phelan, Bruce G. Link and Parisa TehranifarChapter 2. Who Gets Sick? The Unequal Social Distribution of DiseaseReading 3. Social Class, Susceptibility, and Sickness - S. Leonard Syme and Lisa F. BerkmanReading 4. Racism and Health: Pathways and Scientific Evidence - David R. Williams and Selina A. MohammedReading 5. Sex, Gender, and Vulnerability - Rachel C. SnowReading 6. Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine - Paul E. Farmer et al.Reading 7. A Case of Refocusing Upstream: The Political Economy of Illness - John B. McKnightChapter 3. Our Sickening Social and Physical EnvironmentsReading 8. Social Relationships and Health - James S. House, Karl R. Landis and Debra UmbersonReading 9. The Health Politics of Asthma - Phil Brown et al.Reading 10. Dying Alone: The Social Production of Urban Isolation - Eric KlinenbergChapter 4. The Social and Cultural Meanings of IllnessReading 11. Morality and Health: News Media Constructions of Overweight and Eating Disorders - Abigail C. Saguy and Kjerstin GruysReading 12. Illness Meaning of AIDS Among Women with HIV: Merging Immunology and Life Experience - Alison ScottReading 13. Whose Deaths Matter?: Mortality, Advocacy, and Attention to Disease in the Mass Media - Elizabeth M. Armstrong, Dan Carpenter and Marie E. HojnackiChapter 5. The Experience of IllnessReading 14. Electronic Support Groups, Patient-Consumers, and Medicalization: The Case of Contested Illness - Kristin K. BarkerReading 15. The Meaning of Medications: Another Look at Compliance - Peter ConradReading 16. Being-in-Dialysis: The Experience of the Machine-Body for Home Dialysis Users - Rhonda ShawPART II. THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF MEDICAL CAREChapter 6. The Rise and Fall of the Dominance of MedicineReading 17. Professionalization, Monopoly, and the Structure of Medical Practice - Peter Conrad and Joseph W. SchneiderReading 18. Notes on the Decline of Midwives and the Rise of Medical Obstetricians - Richard W. Wertz and Dorothy C. WertzReading 19. The End of the Golden Age of Doctoring - John B. McKinlay and Lisa D. MarceauReading 20. Countervailing Power: The Changing Character of the Medical Profession in the United States - Donald W. LightChapter 7. Other Providers In and Out of MedicineReading 21. A Caring Dilemma: Womanhood and Nursing in Historical Perspective - Susan ReverbyReading 22. From Quackery to “Complementary” Medicine: The American Medical Profession Confronts Alternative Therapies - Terri A. WinnickChapter 8. PharmaceuticalizationReading 23. From Lydia Pinkham to Queen Levitra: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising and Medicalization - Peter Conrad and Valerie Leiter24.Prescriptions and Proscriptions: Moralizing Sleep Medications - Jonathan Gabe, Catherine M. Coveney and Simon J. WilliamsChapter 9. Financing Medical CareReading 25. Paying for Health Care - Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin GrumbachReading 26. The Origins of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Jill QuadagnoReading 27. The Debate Over Health Care Rationing: Déjà Vu All Over Again - Alan B. CohenChapter 10. Medicine in PracticeReading 28. The Struggle Between the Voice of Medicine and the Voice of the Lifeworld - Elliot G. MishlerReading 29. Cultural Brokerage: Creating Linkages Between Voices of Lifeworld and Medicine in Cross-Cultural Clinical Settings - Ming-Cheng Miriam LoReading 30. Social Death as Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Stefan TimmermansReading 31. "I want you to save my kid!": Illness management strategies, access, and inequality at an elite university research hospital - Amanda M. GenglerChapter 11. Dilemmas of Medical TechnologyReading 32. Medical Sociology and Technology: Critical Engagements - Monica J. Casper and Daniel R. MorrisonReading 33. “It just becomes much more complicated”: Genetic Counselors’ Views on Genetics and Prenatal Testing - Susan MarkensPART III. CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL DEBATESChapter 12. The Relevance of RiskReading 34. Risk as Moral Danger: The Social and Political Functions of Risk - Deborah LuptonReading 35. The Pursuit of Preventive Care for Chronic Illness: Turning Healthy People into Chronic Patients - Meta J. Kreiner and Linda M. HuntChapter 13. The Medicalization of American SocietyReading 36. Medicine as an Institution of Social Control - Irving Kenneth ZolaReading 37. The Shifting Engines of Medicalization - Peter ConradReading 38. The Best Laid Plans? Women’s Choices, Expectations and Experiences in Childbirth - Claudia Malacrida and Tiffany BoultonReading 39. C-Section Epidemic - Theresa MorrisPART IV: EXPANDING HEALTH AND HEALTH CAREChapter 14. Illness, Medicine, and the InternetReading 40. Illness and the Internet: From Private to Public Experience - Peter Conrad, Julia Bandini and Alexandria VasquezReading 41. It’s Like Having a Physician in Your Pocket! A Critical Analysis of Self-Diagnosis Smartphone Apps - Deborah Lupton and Annemarie JutelChapter 15. Prevention, Movements, and Social ChangeReading 42. Politicizing Health Care - John McKnightReading 43. Embodied Health Movements: Uncharted Territory in Social Movement Research - Phil Brown et al.Chapter 16. Global IssuesReading 44. Health Inequalities in Global Context - Jason Beckfield, Sigrun Olafsdottir and Elyas BakhtiariReading 45. The Impending Globalization of ADHD: Notes on the Expansion and Growth of a Medicalized Disorder - Peter Conrad and Meredith R. BergeyReading 46. International Medical Migration: The Global Movements of Doctors and Nurses - Hannah Bradby