This edited book brings together the latest research on how group memberships, and the social identities associated with them, determine people's health and well-being.

"Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada"--Title page verso.

Suitable for a range of disciplines, such as healthcare, development studies, anthropology and globalization, this title covers the Civil Rights Movement, direct action, hactyvism, indymedia, feminism and the Anti-Globalization Movement. It includes an A-Z Index and bibliography that provides tips for further exploration of this field.

Len Bowers offers an objective and philosophical critique of the theories of mental illness as a social construct. He examines the rationality of these theories, what they might mean, and in which cases they are to be accepted or rejected.