Health, Illness, and Medicine in Canada

by Juanne Nancarrow Clarke

This new edition of this thorough and well-received study of the sociology of health, illness, and medicine has been expanded and completely revised. It includes up-to-date findings on how people try to stay healthy and how they respond to illnesses of varying degrees. The book features new chapters on nursing and midwifery and on complementary and alternative medicine and now includes over 100 tables and figures, as well as numerous vignettes on such topics as medical technologies, pioneers in medicine, epidemics, environmental disasters, and the history of medicine.

Canada's healthcare system has largely been defined by physicians, hospital administrators, and government bureaucrats. The system has had tremendous successes but retains a bias against alternative medicines, similar to the trend in the United States. One of the central questions in modern medicine now is how to balance the sometimes contradictory goals of preserving life and preserving the quality of life. Clarke adds important new information for the debate. He uses four different sociological perspectives--structural-functional, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and feminist--to examine occupational diseases; environmental challenges; the inequities of age, gender, class, race, and ethnicity; the experience of getting sick and going to the doctor; and the extent and impact of private industries on pharmaceuticals and medicine. The book also considers the Canadian healthcare system in both historical and international contexts.

Genres: Textbooks, Medicine

488 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 1990

Reviews

[Celina Del Vecchio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first time taking a soc class and I was so scared (still am tbh) but content was interesting when we actually got into the health and illness aspect of it all. It was very similar to content that I’ve already learned; however, there were some interesting facts and stats that I was unaware of. I did learn a lot, which I appreciated.

All the sociological theories and perspectives were boring to me but I also am just not that type of thinker. Also learning theory is objectively never interesting sooo I digress 🙂‍↕️

Overall, I think my horizons have been broadened and I’m glad I did something that was outside my comfort zone :)

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this textbook to be very biased and that it quite often used unscholarly sources as evidence towards a point. I also found the layout to be very dense and that the information was not always broken down in a flowing manner.

[Midia · Rating 5 out of 5]

as a student, I found this book very very helpful in the sociology and health sciences. It does not only provide information but also support it with real data and research. Good book if you want any help or research in health, medicine, women in medicine and social aspect of medicine.