Table Of ContentAPPLIED SOCIOLOGY OF
HEALTH AND ILLNESS
This popular and accessible text continues to cover the basic principles
of the sociology of health and illness in an eminently readable way. This
fully revised second edition has been inspired, informed, and reviewed
by medical students. By creatively employing a problem-based learn-
ing approach, the book examines commonly covered topics integrating
underlying principles and research findings through real-life stories. The
book investigates the relevance of sociology and considers a new direc-
tion – one that places sociology in the context of healthcare settings,
making the topic more realistic, useful, and memorable.
The book will be an invaluable companion for medical students
throughout undergraduate studies and is also a useful reference for stu-
dents in nursing, social work, psychology, and sociology, as well as qual-
ified doctors and healthcare practitioners.
Applied Sociology of
Health and Illness
A Problem-Based Learning
Approach
Second Edition
Costas S. Constantinou
Professor of Medical Sociology
University of Nicosia Medical School
Nicosia, Cyprus
Second edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2023 Costas S. Constantinou
First edition published by CRC Press 2014
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources.
While all reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information,
neither the author[s] nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility or liability for
any errors or omissions that may be made. The publishers wish to make clear that any
views or opinions expressed in this book by individual editors, authors or contributors
are personal to them and do not necessarily reflect the views/opinions of the publishers.
The information or guidance contained in this book is intended for use by medical,
scientific or health-care professionals and is provided strictly as a supplement to the
medical or other professional’s own judgement, their knowledge of the patient’s medical
history, relevant manufacturer’s instructions and the appropriate best practice guidelines.
Because of the rapid advances in medical science, any information or advice on dosages,
procedures or diagnoses should be independently verified. The reader is strongly urged
to consult the relevant national drug formulary and the drug companies’ and device or
material manufacturers’ printed instructions, and their websites, before administering or
utilizing any of the drugs, devices or materials mentioned in this book. This book does
not indicate whether a particular treatment is appropriate or suitable for a particular
individual. Ultimately it is the sole responsibility of the medical professional to make his
or her own professional judgements, so as to advise and treat patients appropriately. The
authors and publishers have also attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material
reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish
in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged
please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted,
reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission
from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access www
.copyright. com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood
Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. For works that are not available on CCC
please contact mpkbookspermissions@ tandf. co. uk
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 9781032188669 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032188652 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003256687 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003256687
Typeset in Sabon
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To my family
Contents
Foreword to the first edition ix
Preface xvi
Acknowledgements xxi
About the author xxiii
Note about language xxiv
Introduction 1
1 Lay health beliefs and doctor–patient relationships 13
2 The body as a social entity 31
3 The experience of chronic illness and disability 47
4 Labelling and stigma 63
5 Mental illness 80
6 Social inequalities in health 101
7 Gender and health 119
viii Contents
8 Ethnicity and health 135
9 Ageing society and older people 152
10 Digital health 169
Index 183
Foreword to the first edition
WHY MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY IS IMPORTANT
FOR A MODERN MEDICAL EDUCATION
It was September 2006 when I first started teaching sociology, or bet-
ter, medical sociology, to medical students at the then newly established
Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia. I had taken
up this important role before doing research on women’s experience of
severe chronic illness and on patients’ understanding of informed consent
in experiential medical trials. I remember being very excited at finally
having been given the chance to contribute to the education of a new
generation of doctors who surely would all be very fascinated in what I
had to tell them about the social aspects of medicine and the importance
of taking patients’ life stories and their often-complex backgrounds into
account. Surely everybody would agree with me, so I thought, that medi-
cine was not just about the body, but also about the person, their ideas,
their experiences, and their view on being a patient. Surely, I thought,
everybody would also agree with me that modern medicine also needed
to take into account that for medical treatment to be successful, the doc-
tors would have to be very much aware of their own social background
as well as that of the patient. So, I set out to design the curriculum. To
my astonishment, not only was there hardly anything published on how
to teach medical sociology to medical students, but it was also the case
that the lecturers who taught medical sociology before I did – all medi-
cal professionals – thought it was all just common-sense understanding.
The first year of integrating medical sociology into a modern medical
