A wide range of international contributions draw on theoretical and empirical sources to explore whether alternatives exist to both conceptualise and conduct research into what people do and don’t do, in relation to their health and experiences of illness.

• Presents a collection of international contributions that complement, as well as critique, dominant conceptualisations of health behaviour
• Includes a wide range of both theoretical perspectives and empirical cases
• Reasserts the unique contribution social sciences can make to health research
• Challenges assumptions about the usefulness of the concept of health behaviour
• A timely publication given the rise of chronic and lifestyle diseases and the resulting changes in global health agendas

Simon Cohn is a Reader in Medical Anthropology at the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His research focuses on issues related to diagnosis, contested conditions and chronic illness in the UK and other high-income societies. With a strong commitment to contemporary social theory, Cohn is interested in ways in which innovative social science can shape aspects of medical practice.