Although the field of bioethics is about 40 years old, sociologists are only now beginning to explore the ramifications of its appearance and growth. The View from Here presents the best of recent work in bioethics, exploring: the profession of bioethics and its role in discussions about the means and ends of the life sciences; how ordinary questions become 'bioethical' questions and why some bioethical issues fail to attract the attention of bioethicists; variations in the manifestations of bioethics in different countries and health systems; the relationship between social science and bioethics and the effect of the rise of bioethics on the field of medical sociology.
The rich understanding of bioethics offered by this volume makes it an essential text for medical sociologists, medical anthropologists, bioethicists, and to the increasingly large audience of those interested in the relationship between the social sciences and bioethics.