Health and Social Change: A Critical Theory

How have health, illness and medicine been affected by social change? What are the implications of disorganized capitalism, neo-liberalism and the 'Third Way' for health and healing? How important are class, gender and ethnic relations for health care reforms and the distribution of health? "Health and Social Change" offers a clear and incisive examination of the social changes that have affected capitalist societies, and their ramifications for health and for systems of healing. It reviews the major paradigms of medical sociology and considers theories of the 'postmodern turn'. The author draws on critical realism and critical theory to demonstrate the significance of the shift from organized to disorganized capitalism for health care reform, in particular in Britain and the USA; for the present widening of health inequalities; and for people's use of popular, folk and professional forms of healing. He goes on to examine the role of a critical sociology and its necessary relationship to civil society and deliberative democracy. The result is an engaging and thought-provoking text for students, researchers and professionals interested in health and social change.