Main description:

The Sociology of the Health Service responds directly to the need to develop a sociological analysis of current health policy. Topics covered vary from privatisation and health service management to health education and the politics of professional power. Also included is an histroical review of sociology's contributions to health policy and proposals for an agenda for sociological health policy research in the 1990s.

Contents:

Introduction Jonathan Gabe, Michael Calnan, and Michael Bury 1. Medical Sociology and Health Policy: an Historical Overview Margaret Stacey 2. Privatisation in the British Health Service: a Challenge to the NHS John Mohan 3. The Politics of Professional Power: Medicine in a Changing Health Service Mary Ann Elston 4. Health Service Management - A Sociological View Griffiths and the Non-Negotiated Order of the Hospital David Cox 5. Evaluating the Outcomes of Health Care Angela Coulter 6. Recent Developments in General Practice: a Sociological Analysis Michael Calnan and Jonathan Gabe 7. Knowledge and Control in Health Promotion: a Test Case for Social Policy and Social Theory Alan Beattie 8. The Confused Boundaries of Community Care Hilary Land 9. The Agenda for Sociological Health Policy Research for the 1990s Margot Jefferys