The author, Bryan Turner, examines how macro processes like globalization, risk, economic deregulation, and technological change shape personal experiences of health and illness. Addressing key topics in contemporary sociology such as the body, power, and knowledge, Turner sets out to rethink medical sociology as an exciting perspective on the principal transformations of modern society.

In this broad historical and sociological work, Turner asks and answers how economic changes of recent decades have undermined both social cohesion and the conditions that promote good health. He explores the macro-level importance of social capital (people’s involvement or investments in society), inequality, and citizenship rights in his explanation of health and illness in modern societies, and examines at the micro level embodiment (our relationship to our own bodies) in narratives of illness.

The New Medical Sociology is part of the Contemporary Societies series.