The social construction of illness is a major research perspective in medical sociology. This
article traces the roots of this perspective and presents three overarching constructionist …

Epigenetics is a burgeoning area of biomedical research into the mechanisms by which
genes are regulated—how the activity of producing proteins is controlled. Although …

Sarah Nettleton's The Sociology of Health and Illness has become a cornerstone text,
popular with students and academics alike for its rigorous and accessible overview of the …

What are the social consequences of the recent expansion of newborn screening in the
United States? The adoption of new screening technologies has generated diagnostic …

The molecular biological field of epigenetics has recently attracted attention not only in
biology, but also in the broader scientific community and the popular press. Commentators …

An exploration of sociological research that is neither “detached” nor “engaged”; a new
approach to sociological knowledge production, with examples from health care. In this …

Arguably, the most important problem at the intersection of sociology and epidemiology is
how to understand the pervasive positive relationship between various indicators of social …

Medical researchers and clinicians increasingly understand and present eating disorders
(anorexia and bulimia nervosa) as biologically-based psychiatric disorders, with genetic risk …

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than
changes in the DNA itself. The field is rapidly growing and being widely promoted, attracting …

Much research has explored the role of social networks in promoting health through the
provision of social support. However, little work has examined how social networks …