Health and medicine are key areas of sociological specialization, but in the face of rapid global challenges, they are changing. The need for change is becoming more and more urgent and the relevance of some of the traditional approaches, frameworks and theoretical perspectives should be evaluated. The aim of this article is to reflect on this issue and to explore what could be done in response...

It was claimed over 50 years ago that medicine cannot do without sociology, but what impact have sociologists had on quality of health care? Most clinicians and managers would not be able to identify sociology's contribution even though it forms part of the educational preparation of healthcare professionals, including medical practitioners. Why does sociology seem invisible when it is so relev...

Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi1, Katherine E. Smith2, David Stuckler3, Martin McKee4 Public Health, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G2 3QB, UK Global Public Health Unit, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9LD, UK Political Economy and Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UQ...