Public Discourse and Health Policies

The questions addressed in the book revolve around the public nature of health as an asset and the rights associated with it, by drawing attention to sociology's role in shedding light on current dynamics and understanding how they may change in the future. In the field of public health, significant empirical evidence points not only to the outcomes, clinical and otherwise, that extensive information can produce but also to the urgent need to rethink the far from straightforward relationship between having this information and the ability to put it to effective use in tackling the problems it relates to. The book is intended for a broad audience of university researchers and students, particularly those involved in upper-level sociology and social policy programs. It will also be of interest to healthcare and social work policy-makers and practitioners who wish to gain a more detailed grasp of the dynamics of healthcare in order to approach its processes critically and improve their outcomes.

Nicoletta Bosco is Full Professor of the Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, Università di Torino, Italy.

Introduction: information and health in a changing world 1. International health service rankings: reflections from an Italian perspective 2. Bringing healthcare policies into focus: measuring, describing, evaluating and choosing 3. Rationing and communication ambiguities 4. Images of health: public discourse, information, ignorance and communication Conclusion: knowledge about the past and discourses about the future