First published in 1992, Quality and Regulation in Health Care employs socio-legal ideas concerning regulation to examine the methods used to influence the quality of health care in the US, UK, and Western Europe. Throughout the Western world, health care systems, both public and private, are grappling with the problems of assuring quality while containing costs. On the one hand, governments and insurers argue that there must be some limit to the apparently endless growth of health care expenditures. On the other, patient groups and consumer advocates, already dissatisfied by the problems in holding doctors accountable for their actions, protest that such limits must not result in sick people getting inferior treatment. This book examines in detail the debate surrounding the question: How can the professional expertise of the clinicians be reconciled with the preferences of their patients and the economic concerns of taxpayers or insurers? It will be essential reading for graduate and undergraduate courses in health policy, medical sociology, and health law.

Over the past 30 years Robert Dingwall has published an influential series of articles on the professions, especially law and medicine. This represents a substantial and coherent body of work in an important sub-discipline of sociology. This volume assembles the best of these writings in one single accessible place. The ten essays are republished in their original form, each bearing the traces of the time and place it was written. In sum, they provide a fascinating account of an academic journey. They are introduced with a foreword from the author, who places the work in context and offers some thoughts about how the work might be used by scholars in developing the field, to evaluate, for example, the effects of the New Labour period on professional autonomy. The essays will be indispensable to sociologists with a general interest in the professions and to scholars of law, medicine and business.

Originally published in 1978, Health and the Division of Labour examines problems and tensions experienced in health work. The papers analyse inter- and intra-occupational rivalry and consider the impact of new forms of managerial rationality upon the traditional divisions of tasks and prestige in health work. The issues raised here affect public policy in both Britain and the USA: Americans can profit from British work on the position of women in medicine, on unionisation and on managerialism, Britons can learn from Americans work on the political context of both social science and medicine, in looking at renal dialysis policy and at the problems of fieldwork in Latin America.

Who is Howard S. Becker? This book traces his career, examining his work and contributions to the field of sociology. Themes covered include Becker's theoretical conceptualizations, approaches, teaching style, and positioning in the intellectual milieu. Translated from French by sociologist Robert Dingwall, the English edition benefits from an editorial introduction and additional referencing, as well as a new foreword by Becker himself.

Originally published in 1977, Health Care and Health Knowledge presents some of the best new work being done in the field of medical sociology. Developments in the field have been prompted by both intellectual and social stimuli, and this book addresses the issue of medicine as an element in the maintenance of social order. The book studies how in the social context of medicine, health care is now a substantial element of most countries gross national product, and states that given this, there are inevitably strong pressures for state interest and stare intervention to regulate the allocation of national resources to secure the maximum social and economic returns. This has drawn the sociologist into studying medicine both as an institution and as a critical factor in the development of social policy.

Originally published in 1978, Health and the Division of Labour examines problems and tensions experienced in health work. The papers analyse inter- and intra-occupational rivalry and consider the impact of new forms of managerial rationality upon the traditional divisions of tasks and prestige in health work. The issues raised here affect public policy in both Britain and the USA: Americans can profit from British work on the position of women in medicine, on unionisation and on managerialism, Britons can learn from Americans work on the political context of both social science and medicine, in looking at renal dialysis policy and at the problems of fieldwork in Latin America.

The British National Health Service celebrated its thirtieth birthday in 1978. A Royal Commission was set up to consider the role of the National Health Service, and it is the debates that surrounded this Royal Commission that form the basis for the twelve topics covered by this book. The economic difficulties that the country was facing when this book was published in 1979 highlighted the widely publicised malaise in the health service, and exposed the limitation of a set of ideals developed by the NHS in the years after the Second World War. These limitations, reflected in the economic recession of all industrial countries, presented a challenge and thus an opportunity to re-examine the nature and purpose of our health service. Although this work offered no easy solutions, it did present significant implications for public debate and public appraisal of the prospects of the National Health Service, and greatly mirrors the debates that have been stirring in more recent years. This title will be of interest to students of sociology.

A social science which has become so remote from the society which pays for its upkeep is ultimately doomed, threatened less by repression than by intellectual contempt and financial neglect. This is the message of the authors of this book in this reassessment of the evolution and present state of British sociology. Their investigation analyses the discipline as a social institution, whose product is inexorably shaped by the everyday circumstances of its producers; it is the concrete outcome of people's work, rather than a body of abstract ideas. Drawing upon their varied experience as teachers and researchers, they identify three major trends in contemporary sociology. First, that the discipline's rapid expansion has led to a retreat from rigorous research into Utopian and introspective theorising. Second, that the concept of sociological research is being taught in a totally false way because of this, and encourages 'research' within a wholly academic environment. Third, that the current unpopularity of sociology with academics, prospective students and politicians is no coincidence, but a reflection of the conditions under which sociology is now produced and practised. In Sociology and Social Research the authors suggest substantial changes in sociological research, the way in which it is carried out and the conditions under which it is undertaken. Their book is a timely warning to fellow sociologists when the profession is under attack as a result of public expenditure cuts.

In recent years the study of nursing history in Britain has been transformed by the application of concepts and methods from the social sciences to original sources. The myths and legends which have grown up through a century of anecdotal writing have been chipped away to reveal the complex story of an occupation shaped and reshaped by social and technological change. Most of the work has been scattered in monographs, journals and edited collections. The skills of a social historian, a sociologist and a graduate nurse have been brought together to rethink the history of modern nursing in the light of the latest scholarship. The account starts by looking at the type of nursing care available in 1800. This was usually provided by the sick person's family or household servants. It traces the interdependent growth of general nursing and the modern hospital and examines the separate origins and eventual integration of mental nursing, district nursing, health visiting and midwifery. It concludes with reflections on the prospects for nursing in the year 2000.

The British National Health Service celebrated its thirtieth birthday in 1978. A Royal Commission was set up to consider the role of the National Health Service, and it is the debates that surrounded this Royal Commission that form the basis for the twelve topics covered by this book. The economic difficulties that the country was facing when this book was published in 1979 highlighted the widely publicised malaise in the health service, and exposed the limitation of a set of ideals developed by the NHS in the years after the Second World War. These limitations, reflected in the economic recession of all industrial countries, presented a challenge and thus an opportunity to re-examine the nature and purpose of our health service. Although this work offered no easy solutions, it did present significant implications for public debate and public appraisal of the prospects of the National Health Service, and greatly mirrors the debates that have been stirring in more recent years. This title will be of interest to students of sociology.

A social science which has become so remote from the society which pays for its upkeep is ultimately doomed, threatened less by repression than by intellectual contempt and financial neglect. This is the message of the authors of this book in this reassessment of the evolution and present state of British sociology. Their investigation analyses the discipline as a social institution, whose product is inexorably shaped by the everyday circumstances of its producers; it is the concrete outcome of people's work, rather than a body of abstract ideas. Drawing upon their varied experience as teachers and researchers, they identify three major trends in contemporary sociology. First, that the discipline's rapid expansion has led to a retreat from rigorous research into Utopian and introspective theorising. Second, that the concept of sociological research is being taught in a totally false way because of this, and encourages 'research' within a wholly academic environment. Third, that the current unpopularity of sociology with academics, prospective students and politicians is no coincidence, but a reflection of the conditions under which sociology is now produced and practised. In Sociology and Social Research the authors suggest substantial changes in sociological research, the way in which it is carried out and the conditions under which it is undertaken. Their book is a timely warning to fellow sociologists when the profession is under attack as a result of public expenditure cuts.

Over the past 30 years Robert Dingwall has published an influential series of articles on the professions, especially law and medicine. This represents a substantial and coherent body of work in an important sub-discipline of sociology. This volume assembles the best of these writings in one single accessible place. The ten essays are republished in their original form, each bearing the traces of the time and place it was written. In sum, they provide a fascinating account of an academic journey. They are introduced with a foreword from the author, who places the work in context and offers some thoughts about how the work might be used by scholars in developing the field, to evaluate, for example, the effects of the New Labour period on professional autonomy. The essays will be indispensable to sociologists with a general interest in the professions and to scholars of law, medicine and business.

First published in 1998, this edited volume reflected on the role of universities and aimed to improve the preparation of social welfare professionals by the University of Warsaw for employment in the new market-oriented society that was being created in Poland after the end of 'real socialism' in 1989. Many of its articles were previously published in Polish and were published, revised and updated, in English for the first time in this collection. The contributors discuss two key issues. First, should universities worry about the employment of their graduates and the skills that are needed by the wider economy and society or just focus on transmitting advanced learning? Second, they considered the modernisation of the welfare state. The Polish experience, and the Western partners' reaction to it, has proved an excellent case study for these issues.

First published in 1998, this edited volume reflected on the role of universities and aimed to improve the preparation of social welfare professionals by the University of Warsaw for employment in the new market-oriented society that was being created in Poland after the end of 'real socialism' in 1989. Many of its articles were previously published in Polish and were published, revised and updated, in English for the first time in this collection. The contributors discuss two key issues. First, should universities worry about the employment of their graduates and the skills that are needed by the wider economy and society or just focus on transmitting advanced learning? Second, they considered the modernisation of the welfare state. The Polish experience, and the Western partners' reaction to it, has proved an excellent case study for these issues.

This title was first published in 2001. With critical observations on past approaches to this issue and the proposal of alternative lines of inquiry, this book is concerned with the attempts made by sociologists (and to a lesser extent, doctors) to account for patterns of social conduct that are observably associated with periods of illness. The author argues that medical sociologists have confused the proper realms of biological and sociological inquiry, and that it is this confusion that lies at the heart of the paucity of genuinely informative work in this field. The first chapter examines some of the influential explanations of the social consequences of illness that medical sociologists have put forward. The author analyzes representative selections from the body of literature on illness behaviour and on attempts to formulate accounts of illness within that tradition.

This title was first published in 2001. A classic ethnographic study of the interactions between paediatricians and parents of children thought to be neurologically handicapped. Strong used this work to systematize the often chaotic ideas of Erving Goffman, to explore the connections between micro and macro analysis in sociology and to reflect on the nature of medical practice in modern liberal societies. The book stands as a testament to Strong's pursuit of methodological rigour in qualitative sociology.

This title was first published in 2001. A classic ethnographic study of the interactions between paediatricians and parents of children thought to be neurologically handicapped. Strong used this work to systematize the often chaotic ideas of Erving Goffman, to explore the connections between micro and macro analysis in sociology and to reflect on the nature of medical practice in modern liberal societies. The book stands as a testament to Strong's pursuit of methodological rigour in qualitative sociology.

Children Act 1989 introduced the most radical changes to child care law for a generation. Eekelaar and Dingwall provide a concise, practical guide to the legislation for all professionals practising in this area.

This title was first published in 2001. With critical observations on past approaches to this issue and the proposal of alternative lines of inquiry, this book is concerned with the attempts made by sociologists (and to a lesser extent, doctors) to account for patterns of social conduct that are observably associated with periods of illness. The author argues that medical sociologists have confused the proper realms of biological and sociological inquiry, and that it is this confusion that lies at the heart of the paucity of genuinely informative work in this field. The first chapter examines some of the influential explanations of the social consequences of illness that medical sociologists have put forward. The author analyzes representative selections from the body of literature on illness behaviour and on attempts to formulate accounts of illness within that tradition.

The Children Act 1989 introduces the most radical changes to child care law for a generation. Eekelaar and Dingwall provide a concise, practical guide to the legislation for all professionals practising in this area. This book should be of interest to students and practitioners of social work, applied social studies, health visiting, and law.

Combining the skills of a social historian, a sociologist and a graduate nurse, this book traces the history of nursing from 1800 and speculates on the future of nursing in the year 2000. This book should be of interest to students in nursing, social administration, medical sociology and the history of nursing.

When health and safety regulatory frameworks took their present form in the 1970s, they were seen as a triumph of welfare state intervention. Since then, as heavy industry has declined and office and retail employment have expanded, new ways of working have radically altered the context of health and safety policy. Many people have come to see health and safety interventions as an obstacle to innovation. This book aims to address the changing context of health and safety policy, exploring concerns arising within the profession and the appropriate responses. Its manifesto for reform promises to frame the debate within the professional and policy community for a generation. The result of a major research programme funded by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Health and Safety in a Changing World shows how health and safety policy has developed over time, how it is applied in practice and how best to make it fit-for-purpose in the 21st century. The book will be essential reading for professionals, practitioners and academic readers with an interest in the rapidly-evolving field of health and safety.

Who is Howard S. Becker? This book traces his career, examining his work and contributions to the field of sociology. Themes covered include Becker's theoretical conceptualizations, approaches, teaching style, and positioning in the intellectual milieu. Translated from French by sociologist Robert Dingwall, the English edition benefits from an editorial introduction and additional referencing, as well as a new foreword by Becker himself.

Originally published in 1977, Health Care and Health Knowledge presents some of the best new work being done in the field of medical sociology. Developments in the field have been prompted by both intellectual and social stimuli, and this book addresses the issue of medicine as an element in the maintenance of social order. The book studies how in the social context of medicine, health care is now a substantial element of most countries gross national product, and states that given this, there are inevitably strong pressures for state interest and stare intervention to regulate the allocation of national resources to secure the maximum social and economic returns. This has drawn the sociologist into studying medicine both as an institution and as a critical factor in the development of social policy.