Although the use of new health technologies in healthcare and medicine is generally seen as beneficial, there has been little analysis of the impact of such technologies on people’s lives and understandings of health and illness. This ground-breaking book explores how new technologies not only provide hope for cure and well-being, but also introduce new ethical dilemmas and raise questions about the 'natural' body. Focusing on the ways new health technologies intervene into our lives and affect our ideas about normalcy, the body and identity, Medical Technologies and the Life World explores: how new health technologies are understood by lay people and patients how the outcomes of these technologies are communicated in various clinical settings how these technologies can alter our notions of health and illness and create ‘new illness’. Written by authors with differing backgrounds in phenomenology, social psychology, social anthropology, communication studies and the nursing sciences, this sensational text is essential reading for students and academics of medical sociology, health and allied studies, and anyone with an interest in new health technologies.

Although the use of new health technologies in healthcare and medicine is generally seen as beneficial, there has been little analysis of the impact of such technologies on people’s lives and understandings of health and illness. This ground-breaking book explores how new technologies not only provide hope for cure and well-being, but also introduce new ethical dilemmas and raise questions about the 'natural' body. Focusing on the ways new health technologies intervene into our lives and affect our ideas about normalcy, the body and identity, Medical Technologies and the Life World explores: how new health technologies are understood by lay people and patients how the outcomes of these technologies are communicated in various clinical settings how these technologies can alter our notions of health and illness and create ‘new illness’. Written by authors with differing backgrounds in phenomenology, social psychology, social anthropology, communication studies and the nursing sciences, this sensational text is essential reading for students and academics of medical sociology, health and allied studies, and anyone with an interest in new health technologies.

" . . . Dr. Ihde brings an enlightening and deeply humanistic perspective to major technological developments, both past and present." —Science Books & Films "Don Ihde is a pleasure to read. . . . The material is full of nice suggestions and details, empirical materials, fun variations which engage the reader in the work . . . the overall points almost sneak up on you, they are so gently and gradually offered." —John Compton "A sophisticated celebration of cultural diversity and of its enabling technologies. . . . perhaps the best single volume relating the philosophical tradition to the broad issues raised by contemporary technologies." —Choice " . . . important and challenging . . . " —Review of Metaphysics " . . . a range of rich historical, cultural, philosophical, and psychological insights, woven together in an intriguing and clear exposition . . . The book is really a pleasure to read, for its style, immense learning and sanity." —Teaching Philosophy The role of tools and instruments in our relation to the earth and the ways in which technologies are culturally embedded provide the foci of this thought-provoking book.

Emerging medical technologies are changing our views on human nature and what it means to be alive, healthy, and leading a good life. Reproductive technologies, genetic diagnosis, organ transplantation, and psychopharmacological drugs all raise existential questions that need to be tackled by way of philosophical analysis. Yet questions regarding the meaning of life have been strangely absent from medical ethics so far. This book brings phenomenology, the main player in the continental tradition of philosophy, to bioethics, and it does so in a comprehensive and clear manner. Starting out by analysing illness as an embodied, contextualized, and narrated experience, the book addresses the role of empathy, dialogue, and interpretation in the encounter between health-care professional and patient. Medical science and emerging technologies are then brought to scrutiny as endeavours that bring enormous possibilities in relieving human suffering but also great risks in transforming our fundamental life views. How are we to understand and deal with attempts to change the predicaments of coming to life and the possibilities of becoming better than well or even, eventually, surviving death? This is the first book to bring the phenomenological tradition, including philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, Hans Jonas, and Charles Taylor, to answer such burning questions.

The far-reaching social implications of "artificial fertilisation" are an understudied phenomenon in Switzerland and Russia. Public acceptance of in vitro fertilisation is increasing, but to have a child with this technology, and without sex, is still often imbued with secrecy and taboos. The book sheds light on the cultural and social production of gendered bodies, persons and families in Russia, Switzerland and Germany in the context of reproductive technologies, with a special focus on normalisation practices.

"Fills an important gap in medical sociology. In an era of information overload, busy scholars and students will appreciate these accessible introductions to the field′s key concepts." - Alan Petersen, Monash University "A handbook for any student to have by their side as they embark on any course exploring the sociology of health, medicine and disease." - Jessica Clark, University Campus Suffolk "A really useful collection of concise, accessible and informative mini essays on a range of medical concepts and conceptualisations. The book is ideal for students, including those following health professional courses, and for more seasoned academics and scholars. A very handy volume." - Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, Lincoln University How do we understand health in relation to society? What role does culture play in shaping our experiences of, and orientation to, health and illness? How do we understand medicine and medical treatment within a sociological framework? Medical sociology is a dynamic and complex field of study, comprising many concepts which students sometimes find difficult to grasp. This title manages to successfully elucidate this conceptual terrain. The text systematically explains the key concepts that have preoccupied medical sociologists from its inception and which have shaped the field as it exists today. Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition: Provides a systematic and accessible introduction to medical sociology Includes new relevant entries as well as classic concepts Begins each entry with a definition of the concept, then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses Offers further reading guidance for independent learning Draws on international literature and examples. This title has proved hugely popular among students in medical sociology as well as those undertaking professional training in health-related disciplines. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to find an easily accessible, yet critical and thoughtful, information source about the building blocks of medical sociology and the sociology of health and illness.

The advanced technologies being used in diagnosis and care within modern medicine, whilst supporting and making medical practices possible, may also conflict with established traditions of medicine and care. What happens to the patient in a technologized medical environment? How are doctors', nurses' and medical scientists' practices changed when artefacts are involved? How is knowledge negotiated, or relations of power reconfigured? Technology and Medical Practice addresses these developments and dilemmas, focusing on various practices with technologies within hospitals and sociotechnical systems of care. Combining science and technology studies with medical sociology, the history of medicine and feminist approaches to science, this book presents analyses of artefacts-in-use across a variety of settings within the UK, USA and Europe, and will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and scholars of science and technology alike.