New Directions in the Sociology of Health links a number of contemporary issues to a broader sociological framework. It discusses health policy and programmes aimed at public concerns like AIDS, drug use, tranquilizer dependency and alcohol abuse.

1. Introduction: Developing the Sociology of Health 2. Socio-economic Conditions and Aspects of Health: Respiratory Symptoms in Four West Yorkshire Mining Localities 3. Opening the ‘Black Box’: Inequalities in Women’s Health 4. Distance Decay and Information Deprivation: Health Implications for People in Rural Isolation 5. ‘We’re Home Helps Because we Care’: The Experience of Home Helps Caring for Elderly People 6. Hooked? Media Responses to Tranquillizer Dependence 7. Regulating our Favourite Drug 8. Say No to Drugs, but Yes to Clean Syringes? 9. Using Alternative Therapies: Marginal Medicine and Central Concerns 10. Caribbean Home Remedies and their Importance for Black Women’s Health Care in Britain 11. Health and Work in the 1990s: Towards a New Perspective 12. Where was Sociology in the Struggle to Re-establish Public Health? References Authors Index Subject Index