Social, Political and Cultural Dimensions of Health

Kevin Dew, PhD, is professor of sociology at Victoria University of Wellington, and before that was a lecturer in public health at the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is a founding member of the Applied Research on Communication in Health (ARCH) group. Current research activities include studies of interactions between health professionals and patients, and the social meanings of medications, which are supported by research grants from major funding bodies. He is on the international advisory boards of Sociology of Health and Illness and Critical Public Health, the editorial boards of The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health and New Zealand Sociology and is an associate editor of Kotuitui, the New Zealand Royal Society social science journal. His authored books include The Cult and Science of Public Health: A Sociological Investigation, Borderland practices: Regulating Alternative Therapy in New Zealand, and Sociology of Health in New Zealand (withAllison Kirkman) and was a co-editor of the following publications: Health Inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (edited with Anna Matheson) Health and society in Aotearoa New Zealand (edited with Peter Davis) and Challenging Science: Issues for New Zealand Society in the 21st Century (edited with Ruth Fitzgerald).

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Health Consumers and the Medical Encounter.- Chapter 3. Inequalities in Health.- Chapter 4. The Health of Indigenous Communities and Migrant Groups.- Chapter 5. Institutions of Health Care.- Chapter 6. Health Work.- Chapter 7. Medicalisation and Contested Illnesses.- Chapter 8. Pharmaceuticals.- Chapter 9. Chronic Illness and Disability.- Chapter 10. Death and Dying.- Chapter 11. Sexuality and Sexual Behaviour.- Chapter 12. Mental Health and Social Control.- Chapter 13. Technology and Health.- Chapter 14. New Genetics and Risk.- Chapter 15. Promoting Public Health.- Chapter 16. Health and the Media.- 17. Conclusion.