Part 1 Sociology, health and illness - why should nurses bother with sociology?, Sam Porter from bio-medicine to holistic health, Vincent Tucker conceptions of health and illness in Ireland, Desmond McCluskey ethical and social implications of technology in medicine, Orla O’Donnell. Part 2 Inequalities in health care - social class differences in lifestyle and health characteristics in Ireland, Claire Collins and Emer Shelley unemployment and health, Brian Nolan and Christopher T. Whelan. Part 3 Health issues and life course - the medicalization of childbearing norms - encounters between unmarried pregnant women and medical personnel in an Irish context, Abbey Hyde beyond the moral panic - results from a study of teenage pregnancy, Andrew Finlay, Dorothy Whittington, Nicola Shaw and Monica McWilliams contesting concepts of care - the case of the home help service in Ireland, O’Donovan, Orla older people and life-course construction in Ireland, Ricca Edmondson. Part 4 Mental health alcoholism in Ireland, Tanya M. Cassidy gender differences in mental disorder in Ireland, Anne Cleary the asylum in Ireland - a brief institutional history and some local effects, A. Jamie Saris.