The Sociology Reference Guide series is designed to provide a solid foundation for the research of various sociological topics. Offering a number of social views across a variety of fields, this collection covers the diseases, conditions, and healthcare methods that have received significant attention in the United States throughout the past several decades.

Composed entirely of specially commissioned chapters by many outstanding scholars in medical sociology, this edition reflects important changes in the study of health and illness. In addition to updated and reconceived chapters on the impacts of gender, race, and inequality on health, this volume has new chapters on topics that include: * social networks, neighborhoods, and social capital * disability * dying and "the right to die" * health disparities * the growing influence of the pharmaceutical industry * the Internet * evidence-based medicine and quality of care * health social movements * genetics * religion, spirituality, and health

The Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness & Healing advances the understanding of medical sociology by identifying the most important contemporary challenges to the field and suggesting directions for future inquiry. The editors provide a blueprint for guiding research and teaching agendas for the first quarter of the 21st century. In a series of essays, this volume offers a systematic view of the critical questions that face our understanding of the role of social forces in health, illness and healing. It also provides an overall theoretical framework and asks medical sociologists to consider the implications of taking on new directions and approaches. Such issues may include the importance of multiple levels of influences, the utility of dynamic, life course approaches, the role of culture, the impact of social networks, the importance of fundamental causes approaches, and the influences of state structures and policy making.

This volume looks at the key links between social determinants, health disparities and health and health care. There is a particular focus on macro-level systems and micro-level issues, including the examination of issues for patients, carers and providers of care. Coverage includes papers on geographical and place factors and disparities, SES and race/ethnicity factors, chronic care and serious health problems such as HIV/AIDs and kidney transplantation, comparative aspects and perceptions of health disparities. Starting with an introduction that reviews the crucial sociological literature on social determinants and health disparities, papers in this volume go on to cover key themes including ageing, barriers to care, ethnicity, social inequalities, the views of parents on their children's care, and doctor/patient relationships.

A social epidemiologist looks at health inequalities in terms of the upstream factors that produced them. A political sociologist sees these same inequalities as products of institutions that unequally allocate power and social goods. Neither is wrong - but can the two talk to one another? In a stirring new synthesis, Political Sociology and the People's Health advances the debate over social inequalities in health by offering a new set of provocative hypotheses around how health is distributed in and across populations. It joins political sociology's macroscopic insights into socialpolicy, labor markets, and the racialized and gendered state with social epidemiology's conceptualizations and measurements of populations, etiologic periods, and distributions. The result is a major leap forward in how we understand the relationships between institutions and inequalities - and essential reading for those in public health, sociology, and beyond.

Race, Ethnicity and Health, Second Edition, is a new and critical selection of hallmark articles that address health disparities in America. It effectively documents the need for equal treatment and equal health status for minorities. Intended as a resource for faculty and students in public health as well as the social sciences, it will be also be valuable to public health administrators and frontline staff who serve diverse racial and ethnic populations. The book brings together the best peer reviewed research literature from the leading scholars and faculty in this growing field, providing a historical and political context for the study of health, race, and ethnicity, with key findings on disparities in access, use, and quality. This volume also examines the role of health care providers in health disparities and discusses the issue of matching patients and doctors by race. There has been considerable new research since the original manuscript's preparation in 2001 and publication in 2002, and reflecting this, more than half the book is new content.  New chapters cover: reflections on demographic changes in the US based on the current census; metrics and nomenclature for disparities; theories of genetic basis for disparities; the built environment; residential segregation; environmental health; occupational health; health disparities in integrated communities; Latino health; Asian populations; stress and health; physician/patient relationships; hospital treatment of minorities; the slavery hypertension hypothesis; geographic disparities; and intervention design.

Traditional measures of economic disparities among Americans of different race, gender, geographic location, and education level consider only material well-being, so that making two groups economically "equal" is as simple as matching their monetary incomes. This narrow focus on income may not, however, lead to a complete understanding of economic well-being in the United States. Individual welfare is determined not only by the income available for consumption, but by the health and longevity of the individual. A wealthy individual who is bedridden may be worse off than a healthy person with a lower income. Put simply, both health and wealth matter for well-being. Health and Wealth Disparities in the United States formally incorporates the effectsof health into an analysis of economic disparities in America. Anupam B. Jena, Tomas J. Philipson, and Eric C. Sun find that accounting for the value of health dramatically affects our understanding of wealth levels across groups-particularly across races. The income levels of blacks and whites followed a convergent trend until the 1970s, after which the rate of convergence slowed and even reversed slightly, suggesting that blacks' rate of economic progress has dwindled. However, when health gains are incorporated, the picture changes significantly. Black men and women have made much faster improvements in health than white men and women. Therefore, although black and white incomes are not equal, the overall divergence in well-being decreases when healthis part of the analysis. Jena, Philipson, and Sun conclude that even if income disparities remain vast across groups, disparities in general welfare may be shrinking as minorities and poorer populations see significant improvements in health-a finding that has important implications for the design of welfare and assistance programs in the United States.

Health-related disparities remain a persistent, serious problem across the nation's more than 60 million rural residents. Rural Populations and Health provides an overview of the critical issues surrounding rural health and offers a strong theoretical and evidence-based rationale for rectifying rural health disparities in the United States. This edited collection includes a comprehensive examination of myriad issues in rural health and rural health care services, as well as a road map for reducing disparities, building capacity and collaboration, and applying prevention research in rural areas. This textbook offers a review of rural health systems in Colorado, Kentucky, Alabama, and Iowa, and features contributions from key leaders in rural public health throughout the United States. Rural Populations and Health examines vital health issues such as: Health assessment Strategies for building rural coalitions Promoting rural adolescent health Rural food disparities Promoting oral health in rural areas Physical activity in rural communities Preventing farm-related injuries Addressing mental health issues Cancer prevention and control in rural communities Reducing rural tobacco use Rural Populations and Health is an important resource for students, faculty, and researchers in public health, preventive medicine, public health nursing, social work, and sociology.