Biomedicine is the dominant organizing framework of modern medicine but it is not the only lens through which health, illness and disease can be understood. This interdisciplinary collection of essays brings together scholars from around the world who seek to probe the boundaries of biomedicine. This book is the outcome of the third global conference on Making Sense of: Health, Illness and Disease, held at St Catherine's College, Oxford, in July 2004. The papers selected for this volume take a variety of theoretical positions but share an interest in the social study of health, illness and disease. They consider how biomedicine is a cultural system and is imbued with other meanings and that a full exploration of health, illness and disease requires a variety of perspectives, including those of social scientists, humanists and practicing clinicians.

This volume will be of interest to students, researchers and health care providers who wish to gain insight into the many ways through which we can understand health, illness and disease.