The reception of Michel Foucault’s work in the social sciences and humanities has been phenomenal. Foucault’s concepts and methodology have encouraged new approaches to old problems and opened up new lines of enquiry. This book assesses the contribution of Foucault’s work to research and thinking in the area of health and medicine, and shows how key researchers in the sociology of health and illness are currently engaging with his ideas. The text explores such important issues as: Foucault’s concept of discourse ; the critique of the medicalization thesis; the analysis of the body and the self, Foucault’s concept of bio-power in the analysis of health education; the implications of Foucault’s ideas for feminist research on embodiment and gendered subjectivities; and the application of Foucault’s notion of governmentality to the analysis of health policy, health promotion, and the consumption of health.