Extremely student friendly and completely up to date, THE SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND HEALTH CARE: A CRITICAL APPROACH, 8th Edition delivers a comprehensive, cutting-edge overview that includes both micro- and macro-level topics. The text exposes the sociological and ethical dilemmas of modern health care and challenges students to think analytically, while its unique critical perspective enables readers to question their previously held beliefs about health and illness. Thorough discussions of health and health care emphasize how social forces can prevent or foster illness, affect cultural ideas about illness and disability, structure health care institutions, and affect the lives of health care workers. Race, class, gender, and disability issues are highlighted throughout the text; the book also summarizes the social causes of health and illness in less developed nations and the diverse ways that nations provide (or dont provide) health care.