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Exploring the sociological aspects of sleep and their links to current health debates, this unique text discusses why sleep has been so neglected in sociological literature and examines significant modern issues such as:the 24-hour society sleep and work homelessness dream analysis the medicalization and commodification of sleep. Written by a key international figure in medical sociology, this is the first sociological examination of sleep, making it important reading for academics and advanced students of medical sociology, healt

Chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD: bronchitis, emphysema and chronic asthma) is a major medical, psychological, social and economic problem. Breathlessness is one of the most distressing and disabling symptoms of COAD, and it has long been apparent that the condition results in impaired quality of life. Drawing upon sociological and psychological sources, and his own detailed research in this area, Simon Williams sesitively portrays the meaning, experience and impact of COAD. Sufferers' and their families' own accounts are used to portray the various stages and aspects of COAD, ranging

Sleep on this: sleep is a highly social endeavor, posing a puzzle and a prism through which to view life in the wired era.

AbstractSleep is something we all 'do' on a daily or nightly basis, consuming approximately a third of our lives. It is only relatively recently, however, that sociologists have begun to address the social significance of sleep. This paper, therefore, provides an invitation of sorts to a rich and fascinating new field of sociological inquiry, charting and commentating on the sociological significance of sleep in relation to the following seven key themes: (i) body and society; (ii) roles and routines; (iii) history and culture; (iv) work and employment; (v) gender and the life course; (vi) health and illness; and finally, (vii) politics and ethics. The paper concludes with some further critical thoughts and reflections on this sociological engagement with sleep to date and the theoretical, conceptual and methodological challenges ahead.

This ar ticle provides a critical examination of the seemingly counter-intuitive sociological notion of the `social etiquette of sleep': the socially appropriate and inappropriate, prescriptive and proscriptive, ways of'doing'sleeping, that is to say, in ever yday/night life. The first par t of the ar ticle provides a brief discussion of the rationale for a sociological engagement with sleep. The remaining sections then proceed to a detailed sociological account of the `civilizing' of sleep, the social uses and abuses of sleep, the socially attentive sleeper, the inconsiderate or selfish sleeper, and the anarchic, anomic, deviant or stigmatized sleeper. The ar ticle closes with some fur ther sociological reflections on these dormative/normative matters.A sociological engagement with sleep, it concludes, is far from a contradiction in terms.

In this article I pose the question, 'where is the biological body in medical sociology today?' The first part of the article provides a selective corporeal balance sheet of where we are now in medical sociology, with particular reference to social constructionist and phenomenological approaches and their respective stances or takes on the (biological) body. The subsequent section considers where we might profitably be going in the future in terms of bringing the biological body (back) in, and the broader issues this raises for the sociological enterprise as a whole. Various problems associated with this evolving project and merits of other recent approaches, such as the sociology of translation, are considered. The article concludes with some further thoughts and reflections on these matters, including a revisiting of relations between the sociology of the body and medical sociology in the light of these debates.

This article revisits Parsons' insights on medicine, health and illness in the light of contemporary debates in medical sociology and beyond. A preliminary balance sheet of the Parsonian legacy is first provided, taking on board standard accounts and criticisms of Parsons' work within medical sociology to date. The remainder of the article, in contrast, involves a close re-reading of Parsons in the light of contemporary sociological debates on the body, emotion, trust, uncertainty and health, including late modern and postmodern interpretations of his work. Parsons, it is concluded, despite his (many) critics and detractors, has much to contribute here, not simply in terms of past insights, but also with regard to the present and future