An accessible text which places empirical research findings within the context of both contemporary policy debates and general approaches to policy analysis. Using illustrative material from research in health care, this book examines key issues in contemporary health policy and the sociological debates that surround them. Features of the book include: a look at the way the findings of sociological research are used in the formulation of policy; a look at the sociology of the organization and services for which and on which policy formulated will be applied; and an examination of the sociological issues which lie behind the need to formulate policy, for example in inequalities due to gender, race, class and public attitudes towards health.