Psychiatry regularly comes under attack as a way of caring for and controlling the mentally ill. Originally published in 1986, this title explores the history and theory of psychiatry to illuminate current practice at the time, and shows why mental health services had developed in particular ways. The book was invaluable for all those who needed to understand the problems and processes behind current psychiatric practice at the time - sociologists and psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors, social workers, and health service planners and administrators - and will still be of historical interest today.

Psychiatry regularly comes under attack as a way of caring for and controlling the mentally ill. Originally published in 1986, this title explores the history and theory of psychiatry to illuminate current practice at the time, and shows why mental health services had developed in particular ways. The book was invaluable for all those who needed to understand the problems and processes behind current psychiatric practice at the time sociologists and psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors, social workers, and health service planners and administrators and will still be of historical interest today."

The dynamics of population change in general and changes in family size and spacing in particular are long-standing issues of intense controversy and concern. So too, are the methods of explanation employed by social scientists in studying these and other social phenomena. Originally published in 1977, this book offered an account of a research programme designed to explain the changes in fertility in post-war England, and it offered a contribution to both debates. First, the authors provide an account of the factors that influenced family size and spacing in the post-war period, rejecting both classical population theory on the Malthusian model and more recent economic theories of fertility. Second, the authors discuss the weaknesses of the survey techniques and the associated methods of inference that formed the basis of their research design, as methods for producing explanations of social phenomena.

This book brings together a collection of essays which look creatively and imaginatively at issues of research methods and methodology in sociology. Some papers critically revisit and redefine techniques such as the classic community study, the use of diaries, photography and art, others examine the need for reflexivity in the research process and the epistemological issues arising from being a researcher in administrative and political contexts. The diversity of research approaches discussed in this reader should make it an important contribution to research methods teaching for undergraduate and graduate students of sociology.

The Oxford Modern Britain series comprises authority introductory books on all aspects of the social structure of modern Britain. Lively and accessible, the books will be the first point of reference for anyone interested in the state of contemporary Britain. They will be invaluable to those taking courses in the social sciences. This volume has been developed for the large number of students studying the sociology of health and health care at an introductory level. It may also be read by nursing, medical students, and post-graduate public health students. Joan Busfield, well known for her expert and original work in the field, examines key issues affecting healthcare in contemporary Britain. These include: concepts and measures of health and illness; patterns of health and illness; changing health care provisions; explanations of health care systems; and a concluding analysis of current problems and prospects.