How is sickness absences influenced by experienced illness, disease and social context? How should basic concepts like illness, disease and sickness be understood? This book seeks to understand long term sickness absence by analysing categories of illness, disease and sickness as relations between individuals and their psycho-social environments. A central assumption in the book is that sickness absence is a complex and social concept. In order to understand its many dimensions, it is necessary to combine empirical insight with a critical understanding of how individuals experience their sick roles as social roles. The chapters in the book are written by researchers from Norway and Sweden who have comprehensive knowledge of social aspects of health and sickness. Philosophical analyses and research from the Scandinavian countries are combined to give the reader an empirical and theoretical up-to-date understanding of problems and challenges related to sickness absence. The book offers new and original perspectives on the current debate we are witnessing in Scandinavia and many other countries, and it should be of interest to everyone who is interested in understanding how sickness absence is essentially a social phenomenon.