There has been a notable upsurge of interest in the body, in terms of both empirical and theoretical study and debate. Contributions to this volume move these debates forward by considering a range of bodies as active in the social and economic processes of policy-making, institutions and employment. Contributors consider the body as a site of agency, resistance and compromise and reflect upon the reluctance of sociology to engage with the body and notions of embodiment.

LINDA MCKIE is Research Professor in Sociology, Glasgow Caledonian University. Her current interests are employment, caring and citizenship, the process of disclosing domestic violence in primary health care, and lay perceptions of health and illness. Recent publications include Gender, Power and the Household (edited with S.Bowlby and S. Gregory, 1999). NICK WATSON lectures in medical sociology in the Department of Nursing Studies, University of Edinburgh. His current research interests are mainly in the field of disability studies and he has just finished work on an ESRC funded research project Life as a Disabled Child.