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This paper examines the citation counts of papers published in the first 25 years of the Sociology of Health and Illness. According to this measure only a small number of papers have made a major impact on the discipline of sociology of health and illness and an analysis of these select papers identifies some common themes. In particular, ‘successful’ papers have provided important theoretical constructs for the field while exploration of aspects of identity has been a recurrent focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian Probst was a distinguished medical historian well-known for his meticulous work especially on late 18th century medicine. Readers of Sudhoffs Archiv will also remember him for his many profound reviews. The present paper was written as an imaginatory post mortem discussion with Christian Probst.

Current drug discovery is impossible without sophisticated modeling and computation. In this review we outline previous advances in computational biology and, by tracing the steps involved in pharmaceutical development, explore a range of novel, high-value opportunities for computational innovation in modeling the biological process of disease and the social process of drug discovery. These opportunities include text mining for new drug leads, modeling molecular pathways and predicting the efficacy of drug cocktails, analyzing genetic overlap between diseases and predicting alternative drug use. Computation can also be used to model research teams and innovative regions and to estimate the value of academy–industry links for scientific and human benefit. Attention to these opportunities could promise punctuated advance and will complement the well-established computational work on which drug discovery currently relies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper considers sociological understandings of what constitutes disability. Current meanings of disability in both disability studies and medical sociology are examined and compared, using selected articles from leading authors in each discipline as case studies. These disciplines are often represented as offering starkly contrasting approaches to disability, with their differences amounting to a disciplinary 'divide'. It is argued that, on closer inspection, common ground can be found between some writers in disability studies and medical sociology. It is suggested that this situation has arisen because, in disability studies, the social relational understanding of disability developed by Vic Finkelstein and Paul Hunt in the 1970s has been lost over time, overshadowed by the rise to prominence of its offspring: the social model of disability. The paper concludes with some reflections on the need to revive a social relational understanding of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of sociology is uniquely poised as a discipline that can be combined with specialized training in other fields. Many work sectors are undergoing systemic or cultural changes based on demographic, political, and economic trends. At the same time, many graduates of sociology programs do not find jobs as "sociologists" or academics and must seek additional skill sets to enter the job market. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Integrated Sociology Programs (ISPs), outlining five pillars of such programs: (1) a focus on sociology as a skill set, (2) integration with a non-academic industry, (3) applied experiences, (4) integrated Industry Advisory Boards, and (5) inclusion of career-focused outcomes. We present a case study ISP that integrates Medical Sociology with the emerging field of Population Health Management. While there are many innovative combinations of subfields of sociology and non-academic fields, our case study offers an example that informed the conception of the five pillars of ISPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden emergence of the discipline 'neuroethics' is an intriguing event from the perspective of the sociologies of medicine, science and bioethics. Despite calls for greater social science engagement with neuroethics, it has so far received little attention. So that sociologists might consider how to engage with the field, and in order to simultaneously contribute towards a sociology of neuroethics, this paper explores neuroethics' disciplinary identity via a critical analysis of literature defining neuroethics' scope and role. Drawing on the sociologies of bioethics and expectations, I argue that in setting the neuroethical agenda, neuroethicists construct expectations about the future of neuroscience. In doing so, they align themselves with neuroscience, rather than maintaining a critical distance. Similar critiques have been made of bioethics, but in its efforts to distinguish itself from bioethics, neuroethics appears to exacerbate many of the attributes which sociologists have found problematic. This reinforces the need for critical social science perspectives to inform neuroethics, and also shows how neuroethics is potentially an interesting area of empirical study for sociology. However, the paper concludes by calling for critical reflexivity in sociology's engagement with neuroethics, in light of recent debates surrounding the relationship between social science, bioethics, bioscience and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on qualitative data of an upper‐secondary school in Sweden's primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduce the concept of "consecrating medicalization" in order to discriminate between the effects of medical diagnosis of members of different social classes. In this way, this paper contributes to further examining some key problems in medical sociology and the sociology of elites, by offering a framework of synthesis and integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contemporary relevance of sociological theorisations centred on medical power, including the medical dominance and deprofessionalisation theses. To achieve this it examines two issues that have been tentatively linked to the relative decline of the power and autonomy of biomedicine - complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the Internet-informed patient. Drawing on these two different but interconnected social phenomena, this paper reflects on the potential limitations of power-based theorisations of the medical profession and its relationship to patients and other non-biomedically situated professional groups. It is argued that power-based conceptual schemas may not adequately reflect the non-linear and complex strategic adaptations that are occurring among professional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the assessment and management of self-harm in young people by a nurse consultant-led self-harm service in the UK. The purpose of the paper is to present some of the theoretical perspectives of the service and how these have influenced current practice with this group of young people.Self-harm in young people continues to be a serious concern for health services globally. Rates of self-harm in teenagers in the UK are among the highest in Europe. The current literature offers information on the nature of self-harm and some evidence of specific interventions mainly from a‘psychiatric perspective’. This paper examines the development of a locally based nurse-led self-harm team involved in the care of this group of young people. A sociological view of children and young people is applied in examining the way society construes self-harm and the formation of the behaviour as a deviant act. Self-harm is considered in the context of transition through adolescence and the growth of self-identity.The locally based child and adolescent mental health service has drawn together the evolving nurse consultant role, mental health nursing and medical sociology. This integration of people and theory will enhance the services understanding of self-harm in young people. At an international level, there is a need to consider the sociological dimensions of self-harm in young people as a way forward for mental health nurses who are involved in working with this group of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than half a century after its emergence as a formal field of study, medical sociology remains an important substantive area within our discipline, wide ranging in its appeal and the plethora of topics it engages. Tangible indicators, including the increase in the number of medical sociology journals and the number of medical sociology courses offered in colleges and universities across the country (Bloom 2000), point to the continued interest in this field. The vitality of medical sociology stems in part from the fact that today's health sector is an extraordinarily broad and vibrant arena of society (Weiss and Lonnquist 2000). Major topics of current interest have included the medicalization of society, sociocultural responses to health and illness, patterns of physician-patient interactions, health services utilization, alternative healers and alternative health practices, and comparative health care systems. The array of topics of analysis in our field continues to expand; recently emerging areas of interest include the social effects of health care technology, medical ethics, managed care, and health care reform. Indeed, it is an exciting time to be a medical sociologist. In the Call for Papers distributed for this special issue, we announced that we hoped to explore health- and illness-related topics that should continue to be influential into the new millennium. Further, we specifically encouraged submission of various formats and lengths not typically included in Sociological Spectrum or similar publications. Thus, this collection is unique in its conceptual essays, and methodological and theoretical notes. As suggested by the special issue's title, we hold a broadened view of medical sociology, a view also encouraged by scholars such as Conrad (2001), Weiss and Lonnquist (2000), and Charmaz and Paterniti (1999), that encompasses a sociology of health, healing and illness, as well as of medicine. Although not all inclusive, the organizational schema of the special issue reflects the broad range of topics that scholars who responded to our Call for Papers, our special issues reviewers, and we, as co-editors, considered particularly relevant to medical sociologists at this point in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the author's experience in becoming a medical sociologist before the field had become formalized. The contributions to medical sociology of sociologist Selden D. Bacon and physician and medical educator William R. Willard are described. The relationship of medical sociology to medical behavioral science, as experienced at the University of Kentucky, is discussed. Finally, the thesis of the author's 1957 paper on the nature and status of medical sociology is re-examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that children, as an important social group, repay study in connection with the sociology of health and illness. The paper outlines the neglect of children within medical sociology and goes on to open up a discussion towards a sociology of child health. The paper makes three main points. First, consideration of the case of health and illness helps understanding of children's social positioning as a minority group. Secondly, children present a clear case for considering people as embodied health care actors. Thirdly, taking account of children in the sociology of health requires rethinking the division of labour and inter-generational relationships within it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses current contentions that medical sociology is handicapped as both a scholarly and a policy science by its subordinate relationship to the more powerful field of medicine. An analysis of all research articles published in the JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR which focus upon patients reveals the following: (1) the presence, in the majority, of implicit and explicit medical value assumptions influencing all stages of the research process, from the definition of problems and variables through the application of findings to health policy; (2) a tendency for cases of "medical bias" to be associated with collaborative research in which the sociologist is wholly or partly dependent upon medical sponsorship and definition of the research situation. Consequences of this situation for the human subjects of research as well as for the field are discussed. A conclusion is that both our subjects' interests and the theoretic and political integrity of the field are best served by maximizing professional autonomy vis-à-vis medicine. A proposal for studying the structure of working arrangements concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: NEETs (young people not in employment, education or training) are at higher risk for poorer mental and physical health. In France, the Missions locales (MLs) are the only social structures dedicated to this population. We sought to determine whether the systematic offer of a social and preventive medicine consultation at a ML might increase NEET participants’ access to training in the 12 months following the intervention. Methods: This intervention research was a parallel randomised controlled interventional study conducted at five MLs in mainland France in 2011–2012. It included 976 NEETs aged 18 to 25 years who attended one of the five MLs. At inclusion, participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to three groups: those in the first group were invited to see a social worker (not studied in this paper), those in the second group were invited to see a doctor and a social worker (intervention group), and the third was a control group. The primary outcome was participation in at least one training session during the year following study inclusion. Results: Among the 976 participants, 504 were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 472 to the control group; 704 (72.1%) were included in the analyses. A significantly higher proportion of the participants in the intervention group participated in a training session in the 12 months following the intervention than of those in the control group (63.3% vs 55.6%; p = 0.04). This difference was significantly greater for women, those less than 21 years of age, those unstably housed and those with a lower level of education. Conclusions: Social and preventive medicine consultations that are fully integrated into the social services for NEETs have an impact on their access to training and contribute to changing some of their health-related behaviours. This may improve their access to the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of social structure is one of the main building blocks of the social sciences, but it lacks any precise technical definition within general sociological theory. This paper reviews the way in which the concept has been deployed within medical sociology, arguing that in recent times it has been used primarily as a frame for the sociological interpretation of health inequalities and their social determinants. It goes on to examine the contribution that medical sociologists have made to the debate over health inequalities, giving particular attention to contributions to Sociology of Health and Illness. These have often provided a focus for discussions outside or critical of the mainstream debates that have been driven primarily by epidemiologists. The paper reviews some of the main points of criticism of epidemiological approaches, focusing in particular on the methodological constraints that limit the capacity of epidemiologists to develop more theoretically satisfactory accounts of the inter–relationships of social structure, context and agency in their impact on health and well being. Some recent examples from the Journal of more theoretically innovative and analytically fine–grained approaches to understanding the impact of social structure on health are then explored. The paper concludes with an argument for a more historically–informed analysis of the relationships between social structure and health, using the knowledgeable narratives of people in places as a window onto those relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While sociologists earlier this century often used insights derived from psychoanalytic theory in their writings, contemporary sociology has largely tended to ignore this body of work. This is as true of medical sociologists as it is of others, despite the fact that the 'founding father' of medical sociology, Talcott Parsons, used psychoanalytic perspectives extensively in his theorising on the social aspects of medicine and health. In this paper I make a case for a return to a medical sociology that incorporates understandings of subjectivity derived from psychoanalytic writings, with particular reference to the medical encounter and the illness experience. The paper begins with an overview of psychoanalytic sociology. I go on to review the major insights Parsons developed in his writings and the work of other writers who have more recently used psychoanalytic theory productively in theorising the sociocultural dimensions of medicine and health care. The paper concludes with some thoughts about future directions for taking up the psychoanalytic perspective in the sociology of health and illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of distributing health care according to medical need is being challenged by increasing costs. As a result, many countries have initiated a debate on the introduction of explicit priority regulations based on medical, economic and person-based criteria, or have already established such regulations. Previous research on individual attitudes towards setting health care priorities based on medical and economic criteria has revealed consistent results, whereas studies on the use of person-based criteria have generated controversial findings. This paper examines citizens’ attitudes towards three person-based priority criteria, patients’ smoking habits, age and being the parent of a young child. Using data from the ISSP Health Module (2011) in 28 countries, logistic regression analysis demonstrates that self-interest as well as socio-demographic predictors significantly influence respondents’ attitudes towards the use of person-based criteria for health care prioritization. This study contributes to resolving the controversial findings on person-based criteria by using a larger country sample and by controlling for country-level differences with fixed effects models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major activities of the American Sociological Association's (ASA) Section on Medical Sociology during 1961-1962 included: the facilitation of the presentation of scientific papers in medical sociology, accomplished by the cooperation of chairman Everett C. Hughes and his special assistant, Howard Freeman, with the program chairmen of ASA, the Fifth World Congress of Sociology, the American Public Health Association, and others; the planning of a special Section meeting, honoring the work of Michael M. Davis; the nomination and election of officers; and the compilation of the annual Census of Medical Sociologists. The pattern of relationship between the Section and the regular program of the ASA followed that of previous years, with the Section chairman in the role of consultant to the Association program chairman concerning papers in this particular field. However, a particularly smooth working relationship developed between Patricia Kendall, representing the Association, and chairman Hughes and his representatives. As a result, one session on the regular program. "Studies in Medical Sociology," was arranged by the Section.

Copyright of Journal of Sociology / Sosyoloji Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Copyright of Politica y Sociedad is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A recent paper in this journal by Hardcastle et al. in 2005 argued that Anthony Giddens’s Structuration Theory (ST) might usefully inform sociological nursing research. In response, a critique of ST based upon the Realist Social Theory of Margaret Archer is presented. Archer maintains that ST is fatally flawed and, in consequence, it has little to offer nursing research. Following an analysis of the concepts epiphenomenalism and elisionism, it is suggested that emergentist Realist Social Theory captures or describes a more coherent explanatory vision of social reality than other perspectives and nurse researchers are advised to consider its potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present an interpretation of the accounts of depression provided by women from South Asian communities. The paper presents the findings from a qualitative study, conducted in the UK, which explored women from South Asian communities and their experiences of depression. It is argued here, through examples of women's accounts of their experiences, that depression is 'embodied', that is, grounded in the materiality of the body which is also immersed in subjective experiences and in the social context of women's lives.Qualitative data were collected from four focus groups and ten individual interviews with women. The analysis involved a discursive approach.Analysis revealed how women made strategic choices in how they presented their symptoms as legitimate and for gaining access to what they perceived to be appropriate healthcare. This is not to argue that this is a culturally specific phenomenon but one which is a feature of all healthcare negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘I’ll tell you what suits me best if you don’t mind me saying’: ‘lay participation’ in health-careIncreasing ‘lay participation’ in healthcare has become a popular notion in recent years and is generally considered to be a good thing in both nursing and wider policy circles. Yet despite the widespread acceptance of this overall idea, there is a dearth of theorising in this area. This has resulted in a lack of conceptual clarity which has not only hamstrung the development of empirical work in the field, but has also led to a tendency by both nurses and policy-makers to assume that greater ‘lay participation’ in health will lead to a concomitant increase in lay power vis-à-vis health professionals. The data presented in this paper indicate that this is, at best, an over-simplistic assumption and, at worst, an erroneous one. Drawing on sociological theories of the division of labour, I suggest that one way in which we might begin to clarify our thinking in this area is by differentiating between the ‘role’ and ‘task’ components of ‘lay participation’. I illustrate my argument with reference to two separate ethnographic studies undertaken between 1994 and 1998 in which participation at the level of the individual was examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How will sociology fare in the twenty-first century? We love what we do. The problem seems to be in communicating the value of what we do to lay people outside the discipline. Sociology's future in part will be dependent upon its practitioners demonstrating its utility in the marketplace of everyday life, assessment and decision making. This paper offers a twenty-year perspective of one sociology department's work in a rural Appalachian region. While providing a brief overview of a series of initiatives, it explains in depth our involvement and contributions to a community-based health project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay examines how the academic discipline of social medicine was founded in Britain in the 1940s as a political mission The original conception of social medicine was built upon a collection of beliefs about the nature of science and medicine which were shared by various branches of the profession who identified with diverse social values. The synthesis of ideas that created the discipline, however, were integrated into a specifically left-wing philosophy of social reform. This medicine of society for society emerged from the politics of science, ethics and society m the Second World War. As an expression of scientific humanism social medicine aimed to fulfil the ethical dictates of the modem evolutionary synthesis and be part of the rising tide of corporate welfarism. The paper concentrates on how its intellectual founder, John Ryle, believed this could be achieved by changing clinical medicine into a new discipline of holistic socio-biology of health and disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that two models of illness can be identified within Parsons's paradigm--a structural model focusing on illness as incapacity for rle performance and a psychodynamic model focusing on illness as motivated deviance. Medical sociology, it will be said, has overlooked the psychodynamic or deviance model while recognizing and criticizing the structural or incapacity model under the misplaced label of deviance. It will further be ventured that while some elements of these two models can easily be fitted into a conservative view of medical practice, other elements are more difficult to reconcile with conservatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociological conceptualisation of chronic illness requires a sociology which indicates the physicality of the body theoretically. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the body might be integrated into sociological accounts of the experience of chronic illness in a way that acknowledges biological and social facts. Central to our argument is the connection between bodily aspects of self and identity. Self and identity are core aspects of everyday experience and of the everyday experience of illness. With the onset of illness bodily functioning alters and self-conceptions and identity may also change. The body, which in many social situations is a taken for granted aspect of the person, ceases to be taken for granted once it malfunctions. The bodily basis of chronic illness has to be attended to because it limits or interferes with other physical and social activities. The connection between biological and social facts is explored using the concepts of self and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Black Report identifies four types of possible explanation for social class differences in health, and judges one of these ('materialist') to be the most important. This paper seeks to support this assessment with additional evidence from the literatures of sociology and medicine. In the process it suggests questions which could usefully be the subject of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social construction of diagnosis and illness in several ways. First, I discuss the centrality of social construction in medical sociology. Next I discuss the major role of diagnosis in social construction, leading to the need for a sociology of diagnosis. I emphasize controversial and conflictual diagnoses, as a first step toward a more general sociology of diagnosis. Then I put forth a typology of social construction, involving four combinations based on whether a condition is generally accepted and whether a biomedical definition is applied. Next I detail a series of stages in the social construction of a condition. In that process, my primary concern is the initial social discovery, which is essentially a matter of diagnosis, with a secondary emphasis on illness experience. This is followed by stages of treatment and outcome, which recursively affect social construction. I conclude by noting the health policy implications of the social constructionist perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a revision of the address given by Professor Bloom in connection with his receipt of the Leo G. Reeder Award for distinguished scholarship in medical sociology. The address was given August 12, 1989 to the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association during its annual meeting, held in San Francis. co. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a revision of the address given upon receipt of the Leo G. Reeder Award for distinguished Scholarship in Medical Sociology. It was presented on August 19, 1987 to the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association during its annual meeting held in Chicago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a revision of the address given upon receipt of the Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Medical Sociology. It was presented on September 1, 1986 to the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association during its annual meetings, held in New York City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently interest has shifted from the fact of a relationship between social stressors and health outcomes to factors that may buffer the impact of social stressors. Many forms of the stress-resource-adaptation model are possible. This paper argues that there is not one, but at least two distinct versions of the stress-buffering argument. Statistical models corresponding to each of these versions are developed with an emphasis on the interpretive logic of each model. Three other models described are not consistent with the notion of stress-buffering, but are sometimes thought to be. If more than one form of stress-buffering exists, then it ix possible that some coping resources play a "dual" buffering role. An illustration of how dual stress-buffering works suggests the importance of searching for such resources. Criteria for delimiting and distinguishing cases of stress-buffering from non-cases are discussed in the final section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a revision of the address given by Professor Fox in connection with her receipt of the Leo G. Reeder Award for distinguished scholarship in medical sociology. The address was given August 29, 1984, to the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association during its annual meeting, held in San Antonio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the organizational context of medical practice, help-seeking, and illness behavior in a manner which attempts to show their relevance to more extensive sociological issues. In the first part of the paper, both the advantages and costs of bureaucratization of medical practice are discussed in relation to changes in society itself. The second part of the paper deals with the strategy for developing a social psychological help-seeking model. Although the entire paper attempts to identify strategic areas for research in medical sociology, the third part of the paper is more specifically directed to needed areas in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is: (1) to test, in two additional states, the applicability of a method devised by Ciocco in studying ‘intercounty movements’ relative to live births and to suggest some possible refinements to his method, and (2) to delineate certain ‘medical areas’ in these two states on the basis of the findings. In order to investigate these phenomena, the live births in each Michigan and Missouri county during 1952 were divided into two components—‘In-Residence’ and ‘Out-Residence’ births. Some possible explanations of variation of the ‘In-Residence’ ratios among the different counties ere examined in relation to three independent variables: (1) number of hospital beds per 1,000 population, (2) number of physicians relative to population, and (3) median family income. Ciocco's method is found to have some usefulness; but it is shown that each state should be examined separately, and other factors should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]