Systems Theory and the Sociology of Health and Illness - 9781138503403

Taylor & Francis

Systems Theory and the Sociology of Health and IllnessObserving Healthcare\nAuthor(s): Morten Knudsen, Werner Vogd\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138503403, 978-1138503403\nSynopsis\nModern societies and organizations are characterized by multiple kinds of observations, systems, or rationalities, rather than singular identities and clear hierarchies. This holds true for healthcare where we find a range of different perspectives from medicine to education, from science to law, from religion to politics brought together in different types of arrangements. This innovative volume explores how this polycontexturality plays out in the healthcare arena.\n\nDrawing on systems theory, and Luhmanns theory of social systems as communicative systems in particular, the contributors investigate how things drugs, for example and bodies are observed and constructed in different ways under polycontextural conditions. They .