Introducing Medical Anthropology: A Discipline in Action

by Merrill Singer, Hans Baer, Debbi Long

The third edition of Introducing Medical A Discipline in Action, provides students with a first exposure to the growing field of medical and health anthropology. The narrative is guided by unifying themes. First, health-oriented anthropologists are very involved in the process of helping, to varying degrees, to change the world around them through their work in applied projects, policy initiatives, and advocacy. Second, the authors present the fundamental importance of culture and social relationships in health and illness by demonstrating that illness and disease involve complex biosocial processes and that resolving them requires attention to a range of factors beyond biology. Third, through an examination of the issue of health inequality, this book underlines the need for an analysis that moves beyond cultural or even ecological models of health toward a comprehensive biosocial approach. Such an approach integrates biological, cultural, and social factors in building unified theoretical understandings of the origin of ill health, while contributing to the building of effective and equitable national health-care systems. NEW TO THIS EDITION

Genres: Anthropology, Medicine, Nonfiction, Textbooks

308 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2007

Reviews

[gly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A necessary, accessible read for concepts that are generally looked over.

[Antonia M · Rating 3 out of 5]

No miente con ser una introducción, quizás demasiado introductorio, para todo público incluso

[Mal Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book more of a 3.5. I actually liked this book. I was forced to read it for a college class. It is written in an easy language that anyone in college should be able to understand. There are a lot of anecdotes and facts throughout the book making it more interesting. The facts are all cited correctly. I would recommend this to anyone that doesn't know a lot.about medical anthropology and needs an introduction. The reason I don't give this book full stars is because it is vied through applied anthropologists. These are people that want to change the world (usually to help those with less civil rights) with their findings. I don't disagree with this nor foci think it is a bad thing. However, both of the main anthropologists that wrote this book view their work like this. Sometimes I felt like this made the text a little.more bias. I would have like to have seen a different type or anthropologist help write this book. That way I can see two different viewpoints instead of one viewpoint being explained in multiple different ways by the same type or scientists.

[Ryan Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed yet concise introductory text to medical anthropology, this textbook is written by preeminent medical anthropologists. This textbook is a definite recommend for undergraduates and might even be worthy for graduate students. The book is brief overall for a textbook but can be supplemented as necessary for the students taking the course. Also serves as a good introduction to the field for people not in school but interested in the topic. As an applied, medical anthropologist myself, I appreciated the overall approach of the authors in drawing clear connections to why and how medical anthropology is relevant and applicable to health issues and disparities in our world.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I could give it a lot more stars. I read the 3rd edition which came out last year. Really a wonderfully radical and comprehensive socialist analysis of health and healthcare around the world, focused largely on how capitalism is an absolute contraindication for human life and climate change demands the action of all researchers, scholars and thinkers of every discipline. Refreshing, affirming, accessible and complete. Everybody who cares about health should read this book.

[Mills College Library]

306.461 S61731 2012