Pandemics And Emerging Infectious Diseases - The Sociological Agenda

Dingwall (sociology, Nottingham Trent U., UK), Hoffman, and Staniland compile 15 essays that examine the sociological issues raised by pandemics and emerging infectious diseases. Sociologists and others from North America, Europe, and Israel take a sociological perspective on how societies identify new diseases, how they respond, and what the consequences might be. They discuss the social production of new diseases, such as the West Nile virus, and the role of organizational networks, including how international agencies concerned with human health, agriculture, and animals tried to establish a shared framing of the potential threats from flu viruses in poultry, and European responses to HIV and New York's response to the H1N1 influenza and West Nile virus. They consider policy implementation, including modeling, collaboration between public authorities and private interests, and the role of gender in societal responses to pandemic disease, and public reactions to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert Dingwall is a consulting sociologist and part-time Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. He is a widely published author and editor in the fields of medical sociology, law and society, and science and technology. A former UK government adviser on ethical aspects of national pandemic planning, and consultant to Roche Pharmaceuticals, he co-edited theHandbook of Qualitative Health Research (2010) and was editor of the four-volumeQualitative Health Research (2008).

Lily M. Hoffman is Associate Professor of Sociology at City College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, USA, where she directs the MA program in Sociology. A specialist on urban governance issues, she is a former chairperson of the Urban and Community section of the American Sociological Association. Prof Hoffman co-editedCities and Visitors: Regulating People, Markets and City Space (2003), and is the author ofThe Politics of Knowledge: Activist Movements in Medicine and Planning (1989).

Karen Staniland is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Salford, UK, and holds a PhD in sociology. Her research focuses on sociological and ethnographic studies of healthcare work, applied to improving the quality of care. In addition to co-editing The Nurse Mentor and Reviewer Update Book (2010) and Clinical Skills: The Essence of Caring (2009), she has written open-learning materials on pandemic influenza for healthcare professionals.