Book Review

Sociology of Health and Health Care (Second Edition)

Steve Taylor & David Field (Eds.)

ISBN: 0-632040-93-9; 1997; 256 pages; Blackwell Science, Oxford;

Jane Shoebridge
Nursing (Social Science), Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, SA

Applying sociology to the field of health in simple prose is an art which authors and editors of this introductory text achieved in their first edition (1993) to reviewers' acclaim. In this second edition they are masters.

Writing for students of nursing and other health care fields, the authors relate their body of health sociology knowledge to the social, political and economic realities of contemporary Britain. They make it plain that understanding these interrelationships is fundamental to sound clinical and community-based practice.

For this edition the authors have responded to the increasing interest among nurses and other health professional in sociological theory. They discuss various theoretical perspectives in a lucid, evenhanded way and demonstrate their relevance to professional research and practice with relevant case studies.

Throughout the text, pockets of demographic and social health data give students useful parameters for identifying local community needs. Sociological insights enable student to appreciate what it means to be hospitalised, to experience chronic illness, physical disability and mental disorders and to face dying; and also what it means to the family, nurse and carer in a changing society, to have to contend with the changed National Health Service and a restructured workforce.

To readers outside the United Kingdom, the British data and sources might seem exclusive. But, as the world's oldest industrialised nation state, Britain offers important sociological lessons for students around the globe.

The book compares favourably with current Australian offerings in health sociology and in some respects is superior. Its nearest equivalent in format would be the second edition of Davis and George (1993). Contrasting the two, the Taylor and Field text is shorter, more readable, more directly applicable to health work, and is a more intellectually coherent and morally engaging sociology. The Davis and George text is more detailed, more globally oriented, with a thoroughly researched international literature drawn for a mix of social sciences from an Australian base. In sum, Taylor and Field offer a genuinely integrated introductory health sociology textbook, whereas Davis and George provide an excellent 'social aspects of health' resource.

However, neither of these texts would be sufficient for Australian students. Each needs a companion health sociology reader with strong local referents. There are several such volumes now on the market written and edited by Australian-based health sociologists; for example, Germov (1998); Grbich (1996); Lupton and Najman (1995); and Waddell and Petersen (1994).
Because the format of the applied health sociology reader calls for specialised chapters, each from a different contributor, any depth is provided only in selected sub-fields. A reader cannot provide the sociological foundation essential for coherent, independently sustainable social analysis over time. Yet, all students in the health work professions require this skill.

If I say without reservation that this new edition of Taylor and Field provides and excellent foundation for students at a very beginning level, might I add that mature students, especially those with work experience, could progress readily from Taylor and Field to more sustaining theory such as Cheek, Shoebridge, Willis and Zadoroznyj (1996).

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