The onset of the quadruple burden of disease in South Africa, the challenges faced by the medical establishment to curtail the rapid growth of multiple epidemics, the inadequate response by the state to various inequities in the health system, and the public debates associated with it, have all combined to draw attention to the sociological aspects of health and disease. Sociology as a resource of knowledge and a unique analytical and conceptual perspective can be used to understand, explain and positively influence the course of health and disease in South African society and our responses to it. As a health practitioner or scholar you must be equipped with the skills to critically evaluate research and debates in your profession, be able to adapt to changes and contribute to the development of knowledge and best practice. This reader will familiarise you with relevant content and assist you to develop the analytical capacity and conceptual skills you will need. Society, Health and Disease in South Africa is authored by experienced educators and researchers in the fi elds of sociology, social work, anthropology, healthcare policy and practice.

Whilst the body has recently assumed greater sociological significance, there has been less engagement in social work and social care on the bodily experience of health, illness and disease. This innovative volume redresses the balance by exploring chronic illness and social work, through the specific lens of autoimmunity, engaging in wider debates around vulnerability, resistance and the lived experience of ongoing ill-health. Moving beyond existing conceptualisations of vulnerability as an issue of mental distress, ageing, child protection and poverty, Price and Walker demonstrate the role that society has to play in actively engaging the physical body, rather than working around and through it. The book focuses on auto-immune conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma. Conditions like these allow for an exploration of the materiality of illness which exacerbates social and economic vulnerability and may precipitate personal and social crises, requiring a variety of interventions and support. The risks and challenges associated with chronic illness include disruptions to a sense of self and identity, altered relationships and the renegotiation of roles and responsibilities in a variety of relationships in addition to an economic impact, with the potential for disruption to employment status and financial insecurity. This text opens up a range of debates around some of the central concerns of the social work profession, including vulnerability, ill-health, and independence. It will be of interest to scholars and students of social work, nursing, disability studies, medicine and the social sciences.

Whilst the body has recently assumed greater sociological significance, there has been less engagement in social work and social care on the bodily experience of health, illness and disease. This innovative volume redresses the balance by exploring chronic illness and social work, through the specific lens of autoimmunity, engaging in wider debates around vulnerability, resistance and the lived experience of ongoing ill-health. Moving beyond existing conceptualisations of vulnerability as an issue of mental distress, ageing, child protection and poverty, Price and Walker demonstrate the role that society has to play in actively engaging the physical body, rather than working around and through it. The book focuses on auto-immune conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma. Conditions like these allow for an exploration of the materiality of illness which exacerbates social and economic vulnerability and may precipitate personal and social crises, requiring a variety of interventions and support. The risks and challenges associated with chronic illness include disruptions to a sense of self and identity, altered relationships and the renegotiation of roles and responsibilities in a variety of relationships in addition to an economic impact, with the potential for disruption to employment status and financial insecurity. This text opens up a range of debates around some of the central concerns of the social work profession, including vulnerability, ill-health, and independence. It will be of interest to scholars and students of social work, nursing, disability studies, medicine and the social sciences.

The inability of the medical establishment to effectively curtail the rapid spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, coupled with the questionable response to HIV/AIDS by the state and the public debates around the issue have all combined to draw attention to the sociological aspects of health and disease and to put them in the public arena. There is also an increasing recognition that health practitioners need to have a better understanding of the social aspects of health and disease. Sociology as a resource of knowledge and a unique analytical and conceptual perspective can be used to understand, to explain and to positively influence the course of the epidemic and our response to it.