Main description:

A collection of papers that challenge the conventional analyses of the problems facing health, medicine and medical care in Western societies in general, and North America in particular.

Contents:

Preface

PART 1: The Definition of Health and Medicine
The Social Nature of the Definition of Health Sander Kelman Functionalism and After? Theory and Developments in Social Science Applied to the Health Field Ronald Frankenberg

The Industrialization of Fetishism or the Fetishism of IndustrializationaEURO"A Critique of Ivan Illich Vicente Navarro

PART 2: The Political Economy of Health Care
Health Care in the United States: Who Pays? Thomas S. Bodenheimer

Capitalizing on Illness: The Health Insurance Industry Thomas Bodenheimer, Steven Cummings, and Elizabeth Harding The Political Economy of Medical CareaEURO"An Explanation of the Composition, Nature, and Functions of the Present Health Sector of the United States
Vicente Navarro

PART 3: The Political Sociology of Gender and Functions
Women and Health Care: A Comparison of Theories Elizabeth Fee

PART 4: The Political Sociology of the State Intervention
On the Structural Constraints to State Intervention in Health Marc Renaud