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Mundane Medicine, Therapeutic Relationships, and the Clinical Encounter: Current and Future Agendas for Sociology

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Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

Since the 1950s, a long period of peace and steady economic growth in advanced economies has permitted the diversion of capital into both coordinated taxation or insurance based health services and a concomitant expansion in educational and professional infrastructures for health professionals. Sociological writings over the past 40 years have shown how these have provided a foundation for large scale developments in health services and massive R&D networks. These, in combination with increasing affluence, have meant major improvements in population health (Moran 1999; Starr 1982).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Page numbers refer to the English edition published by Routledge and Kegan Paul (London, 1951)

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I gratefully acknowledge a personal research fellowship awarded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant RES 0002 700 84) that supported the work leading up to this chapter, which builds on a contribution to the inaugural seminar for the journal Chronic Illness (May 2005). I thank Chris Dowrick, Catherine Exley, Tracy Finch, Linda Gask, Catherine Exley, Frances Mair, Chris May, Tiago Moreira, Tim Rapley and Anne Rogers for their helpful comments on this work at various stages of its development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AA, UK

    Carl May

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  1. Carl May
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Correspondence to Carl May .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Bernice A. Pescosolido

  2. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Jack K. Martin

  3. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Jane D. McLeod

  4. , National Primary Care Research and Devel, The University of Manchester, Oxford Street, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

    Anne Rogers

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May, C. (2011). Mundane Medicine, Therapeutic Relationships, and the Clinical Encounter: Current and Future Agendas for Sociology. In: Pescosolido, B., Martin, J., McLeod, J., Rogers, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7261-3_16

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