The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care A Critical Approach

by Weitz, Rose

• ISBN13: 9780534247560
• ISBN10: 0534247563
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-07-11
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Traditionally, medical sociology texts have been written from a medical perspective, focusing primarily on health issues as they have been defined by doctors, and often reading much like health education textbooks. Weitz, instead, adopts a critical perspective, sometimes challenging medical perspectives, sometimes raising broader issues beyond those of interest to the medical world. This perspective, which is more thoroughly sociological, is now more common among instructors than the older medical perspective.

Author Biography

Rose Weitz (Ph.D., Yale University) is Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Part One Social Factors and Illness	1	(114)
Introduction	3	(14)
The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care: An Overview	4	(1)
The Sociological Perspective	5	(3)
A Critical Approach	8	(2)
Chapter Organization	10	(1)
A Note on Sources	11	(6)
The Social Sources of Illness	17	(34)
An Introduction to Epidemiology	18	(2)
A Brief History of Disease	20	(11)
The Social Sources of Premature Deaths	31	(15)
Conclusions	46	(5)
The Social Distribution of Illness in the United States	51	(34)
Age	52	(3)
Sex	55	(3)
Social Class	58	(7)
Race and Ethnicity	65	(16)
Conclusions	81	(4)
Illness in the Developing Nations	85	(30)
Disease Patterns Around the World	86	(2)
The Sources and Nature of Disease in the Developing Nations	88	(23)
Conclusions	111	(4)
Part Two The Meaning and Experience of Illness	115	(106)
The Social Meanings of Illness	117	(32)
Models of Illness	118	(10)
Medicine as Social Control	128	(17)
Conclusions	145	(4)
The Experience of Chronic Illness and Disability	149	(34)
Understanding Disability	150	(8)
Living with Chronic Illness and Disability	158	(21)
Conclusions	179	(4)
The Sociology of Mental Illness	183	(38)
The Epidemiology of Mental Illness	184	(5)
Defining Mental Illness	189	(7)
A History of Treatment	196	(15)
The Experience of Mental Illness	211	(6)
Conclusions	217	(4)
Part Three Health Care Systems and Settings	221	(98)
The U.S. Health Care System and the Need for Reform	223	(26)
Health Insurance in the United States	224	(10)
The Crisis in Health Care	234	(12)
Conclusions	246	(3)
Alternative Health Care Systems	249	(40)
Evaluating Health Care Systems	250	(5)
Health Care in Other Countries	255	(26)
Reforming Health Care in the United States	281	(4)
Conclusions	285	(4)
Health Care Settings	289	(30)
The Hospital	290	(7)
Nursing Homes	297	(4)
Board and Care Homes	301	(1)
Assisted Living Facilities	302	(1)
Hospices	302	(8)
Home Care	310	(5)
Conclusions	315	(4)
Part Four Health Care Providers and Bioethics	319	(100)
The Profession of Medicine	321	(40)
Medicine as a Profession	322	(17)
Becoming a Doctor	339	(17)
Conclusions	356	(5)
Other Mainstream and Alternative Health Care Providers	361	(36)
Mainstream Health Care Providers	363	(16)
Alternative Health Care Providers	379	(14)
Conclusions	393	(4)
Issues in Bioethics	397	(22)
A History of Bioethics	397	(10)
Institutionalizing Bioethics	407	(2)
The Impact of Bioethics	409	(6)
Conclusions	415	(4)
Glossary	419	(16)
References	435	(36)
Index	471