Medicine as Culture

Medicine as Culture is unlike any other sociological text on health and medicine. For many lecturers and students the book has become a classic text, which combines perspectives drawn from a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, social history and cultural studies. The aim of the book is to tease out how medicine and health care are sociocultural constructions, ranging from mass media and high cultural representations of illness, disease and health care workers to the power dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship. For its 3rd edition, Medicine as Culture has been updated to cover new and emerging areas of interest including : " The role of computerized communication technologies in providing access to medical information and support for patients; " New medical technologies and how they contribute to people's understandings of their bodies and selfhood; " How bioethical issues and dilemmas are negotiated in clinical settings; " The changing role of nurses in healthcare provision; " New research in neuroscience on the plasticity of the brain and the notion of 'brain types' and how this research contributes to novel understandings of the brain in lay and medical cultures. Contextualising introductions and discussion points in every chapter make Medicine as Culture, 3rd edtiion a rigorous yet accessible text for students studying socio-cultural perspectives on health and medicine.