Sociology of Health and Wellness: An Applied Approach takes the study of sociology of health and illness to the next level by inspiring students to connect the dots between theory, policy, and practice. The anthology provides students with applied examples of theoretical concepts which encourage them to challenge the status quo and, in doing so, transform and advance the healthcare industry. Part I addresses health and social structure, featuring readings that address the relationships between health and mortality, health and gender, health and socioeconomic status, and more. Part 2 is dedicated to the social and cultural meanings of illness, exploring social construction, the patient experience, and the stigma of mental illness. Part III discusses health care systems and delivery, featuring selections on cell phones and self-diagnosis, the need to preserve and enhance physician careers, and the power society gives health providers. The book closes with a section on applied approaches to medical sociology in which students read about the Affordable Care Act, integrative care, health in later life, and more. Cross-disciplinary in nature, Sociology of Health and Wellness is designed to serve as a supplementary text for foundational courses in public health, health professions, anthropology, and sociology.

Praise for the First Edition: "A real, combined approach of behavioural, social, biomedical, and clinical sciences is paramount. [This book] is one pioneering example of such integration, bridging core sociology with medical education." – Dikomitis L, Wenning B, Ghobrial A, and Adams K.M. (2022). Embedding behavioural and social sciences across the medical curriculum: (Auto) ethnographic insights from medical schools in the United Kingdom. Societies, 12, 101. "Constantinou’s book not only contributes to bridging the gap between theoretical sociology and medical education, it also contributes to the way we teach a new generation of students – how to understand patients in context, how to treat them with respect and, ultimately, how to be a better medical doctor." – Andrea Stockl from her Foreword to the First Edition Comments from Medical Students: "‘Ignorance is not just lack of knowledge but lack of implementing knowledge gained’. I encourage everybody going into a clinical and general work setting to read this book and implement." "I believe this book is the key to unlocking the minds of medical students in viewing illness as not only physical and emotional also as social experience." "I believe everyone should read this book, especially medical students and practitioners who wish to become all-round competent and understanding doctors." "The better you understand your patient’s illness and his/her suffering, the healthier you can make him/her – this book teaches this important skill." This popular and accessible text continues to cover the basic principles of the sociology of health and illness in an eminently readable way. This fully revised second edition has been inspired, informed, and reviewed by medical students. By creatively employing a problem-based learning approach, the book examines commonly covered topics integrating underlying principles and research findings through real-life stories. The book investigates the relevance of sociology and considers a new direction – one that places sociology in the context of healthcare settings, making the topic more realistic, useful, and memorable. The book will be an invaluable companion for medical students throughout undergraduate studies and is also a useful reference for students in nursing, social work, psychology, and sociology, as well as qualified doctors and healthcare practitioners.

The anthology In Sickness and in Health: Sociological Perspectives on Healthcare introduces students to a range of topics and perspectives in medical sociology. The readings in the book explore the many different approaches medical sociologists take to critically evaluate health and illness as societal, rather than purely individual, concerns. The selected articles highlight the diversity of intellectual discourse in the field and elicit critical thinking, applications of theory, and lively discussion. The first chapter addresses the discipline of medical sociology and explores its history, as well as the theoretical roots of examining healthcare from a sociological perspective. Over the course of the subsequent nine chapters, students learn about topics such as the social construction of health, social indicators of health and illness, and trends in health-seeking behaviors. Other topics include mental health, lay versus expert knowledge, health and the environment, healthcare reform, global health issues, and bioethics. Accessible to undergraduates, but rigorous enough for graduate level classes, In Sickness and in Health: Sociological Perspectives on Healthcare is well suited to courses in the social and institutional aspects of healthcare.

Sociological Theories of Health and Illness reviews the evolution of theory in medical sociology beginning with the field’s origins in medicine and extending to its present-day standing as a major sociological subdiscipline. Sociological theory has an especially important role in the practice of medical sociology because its theories distinguish the subdiscipline from virtually all other scientific fields engaged in the study of health and illness. The focus is on contemporary theory because it applies to contemporary conditions; however, since theory in sociology is often grounded in historical precedents and classical foundations, this material is likewise included as it relates to medical sociology today. This book focuses on the most commonly used sociological theories in the study of health and illness, illustrating their utility in current examples of empirical research on a wide range of topics. The qualitative or quantitative research methods applicable to specific theories are also covered. Distinctions between macro and micro-level levels of analysis and the relevance of the agency-structure dichotomy inherent in all theories in sociology are discussed. Beginning with classical theory (Durkheim, Weber, and Marx) and the neglected founders (Gilman, Martineau, and DuBois), along with symbolic interaction (Mead, Strauss) and labeling theory (Becker), and poststructuralism and postmodernism (Foucault), coverage is extended to contemporary medical sociology. Discussion of the stress process model (Pearlin) is followed by the social construction of gender and race and intersectionality theory (Collins), health lifestyle theory (Cockerham), life course theory (Elder), fundamental cause theory (Link and Phelan), and theories of the medical profession (Freidson), medicalization and biomedicalization (Conrad, Clarke), and social capital (Bourdieu, Putnam, and Lin).

Human illnesses can be understood as damage to those adaptations that we took on at various stages in our evolution from pre-life molecules to modern Homo sapiens. Preventing these illnesses entails avoiding what causes the damage — which too frequently are the everyday hazards of twenty-first-century life, as the chart below shows: Level of Evolution / Cause of adaptive failure / resulting disease or problem Pre-life / Environmental poisons / Certain birth defects Single cell (bacteria and amoeba-like) / Viral infection / Colds/flu/HIV Morula (sponge-like) / Cellular stress / Cancer Chordate / Physical stress / Back pain Fish / Excess dietary salt / Hypertension/heart disease Amphibian / Tobacco smoke / Lung cancer/emphysema Lower primate / Excess dietary sugar / Diabetes mellitus Higher primate / Vitamin C deficiency / Scurvy Ape / Excess dietary protein / Gout Homo sapiens / Reduced dietary variety / Nutritionaldiseases/food allergies