The text covers a diversity of topics and draws on a wide range of analytic approaches, spanning issues such as the social construction of medical knowledge, the analysis of lay health beliefs, concepts of lifestyles and risk, the experience of illness and the sociology of the body. It also explores matters that are central to health policy, such as professional–patient relationships, health inequalities and the changing nature of health care work. A new chapter has been added, on the sociology of mental health; other chapters have been updated with illustrative examples and questions for discussion.