Whither sociological theory in the health field?

Abstract The application of sociological theory to the study of health and health care has a long if chequered career, and there is considerable international variation in the manner of its development and in current practice. In this paper our focus is on the current situation in the UK, although its analysis and arguments clearly have a somewhat broader applicability. We draw loosely on Bourdieu’s notion of a ‘field’ to discuss post-WW2 developments in the theoretical contributions of sociologists to our understanding of health and healthcare, crucially asking: (i) which of these have opened and which closed doors as opportunities or obstacles, respectively; and (ii) whether or not they are cumulative and have delivered some form of ‘progress’. This necessarily involves distinguishing between political and institutional factors as enabling or constraining on the one hand, and the merits and potency of rival sociological theories on the other. Seven themes are explored in relation to mainstream sociology: (a) neoliberalism and academia, (b) precarity, (c) truncations of time, (d) specialisation, (e) metrics, (f) cultural turn and (g) normativity. The contribution concludes with a summary of outstanding and as yet unresolved questions and conflicts facing academics and others working in sociological theory in the health field.