Using Theory to Explore Health, Medicine and Society

Peter Kennedy is a Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Law and Social Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University. His research interests includehealth and sport.Carole Ann Kennedy is a tutor at the Open University in Scotland and has research interests in health and social care.

• Contents: Introduction and overview of the book; Health in society: medicine and the pharmaceutical industry; Politics of health: obesity and society; Social construction of health: social division and mental health; Health and moral panics: binge drinking and social order; Health and power: expanding the role of medicine through health promotion; Health and knowledge: accounting for the rise of alternative medicine; Health as culture: understanding the happiness industry; Health in a risk society: Expert and lay knowledge in the case of MMR; Reflective overview of critical perspectives on health and illness.

"This is a powerful study of one of the most significant developments in contemporary social life." Frank Furedi, University of Kent