Bringing together disability theorists and medical sociologists for the first time in this cutting-edge collection, contributors examine chronic illness and disability, disability theory, doctor-patient encounters, lifeworld issues and the new genetics.

Introduction: The Sociology of Chronic and Disabling Conditions; G.Scambler & S.Scambler Studying the Experience of Chronic Illness Through Grounded Theory; K.Charmaz Medical Sociology and Disability Theory; C.Thomas 'Beyond Models': Understanding the Complexity of Disabled People's Lives; T.Shakespeare & N.Watson 'Where the Biological Predominates': Habitus, Reflexivity and Capital Accrual within the Field of Batten Disease; S.Scambler & P.Newton Discerning Biological, Psychological and Social Mechanisms in the Impact of Epilepsy on the Individual: A Framework and Exploration; G.Scambler, P.Afentouli & C.Selai Retheorizing the Clinical Encounter: Normalization Processes and the Corporate Ecologies of Care; C.May 'Chronicity', Proto-Stories and the Doctor-Patient Relationship; A.Radley Chronic Illness, Self-Management and the Rhetoric of Empowerment; M.Bury Understanding Incapacity; G.Williams The Biopolitics of Chronic Illness: Biology, Power and Personhood; S.Williams

PANAGIOTA AFENTOULI recently completed an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at UCL Institute of Neurology, UK and is now undertaking further training in psychology MIKE BURY is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of London, UK KATHY CHARMAZ is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Faculty Writing Program at Sonoma State University, USA CARL MAY is Professor of Medical Sociology at Newcastle University, UK PAUL NEWTON is Researcher at Kings College London Dental Institute, UK ALAN RADLEY is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, UK CAROLINE SELAI is Senior Lecturer in Clinical Neuroscience at University College London, UK TOM SHAKESPEARE has researched and taught at the Universities of Sunderland, Leeds and Newcastle and is currently consulting with the World Health Organization on disability and rehabilitation CAROL THOMAS is Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University, UK NICK WATSON is Professor of Disability Research and Director of the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research at the University of Glasgow, UK SIMON WILLIAMS is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK GARETH WILLIAMS is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, UK

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