This is a fully revised edition of a book that may fairly claim to have re-opened the sociology of the body as a legitimate area of enquiry. Providing an unparalleled guide to all aspects of the subject, each chapter has been revised and updated while the book contains new material that reflects both recent changes in the field and Turner's developing position on the centrality of vulnerability. Assured and innovative, this book provides the most authoritative statement of work on the sociology of the body by one of the leading writers in the field. Bryan Turner is currently Presidential Professor of Sociology at The City University of New York. Praise for the second edition: ''This book provides a stimulating overview of social and sociological thinking, written in a way which helps in reassessing and critically comparing the kinds of accounts they provide of the body and bodily experience! This continues to be a valuable and thought provoking book''. (''Medical Sociology News''). ''His analysis remains compelling! the book is interesting, well-written and relevant''. (''Health'').