Doctors and patients, inter-professional rivalries, how sociologists might tackle the study of vital topics in health - all these are enduring themes in medical sociology. These are also the long-running intellectual preoccupations of Philip M. Strong's twenty year contribution to the field - one which he did much to shape. Posthumously gathered together for the first time in this volume, are thirteen of his major essays, many of which are difficult to find or have been out of print for some years. Grouped by theme, this important reference allows the reader to trace the development in Strong's thought over his career as well as the more general development of medical sociology as a whole.