Overview

Trajectories of chronic illness, biotechnology, social inequality and the restructuring of healthcare all demonstrate the relevance and importance of health for understanding social change. This book reflects on how our understanding and experience of health, at later ages in particular, can impact on social and technological developments. By integrating the perspectives of medical sociology, with its focus on the failing body, chronic illness, infirmity and mortality, and social gerontology, and by emphasizing the epidemiology of old age and health policy, Higgs and Jones break new ground in the study of ageing. They discuss the key issue of dependency versus success ageing and examine the prospect of a new sociology -- a sociology of health in later life. This book is essential reading for all students and researchers of medical sociology and gerontology.

Full Product Details

9780415398558

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Paul Higgs is Reader in Medical Sociology at University College London. Ian Rees Jones is Professor of Sociology of Health and Illness at St George's Hospital Medical School, London.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available