Since its beginnings in the mid-20th century, medical sociology paid little attention to infectious diseases, thought to be either on the verge of extinction or controlled through immunization and antibiotics. Smallpox, measles, yellow fever, and polio were under control, and the threat of malaria had diminished. But the assumption that infectious diseases were no longer a significant health problem was wrong. Pandemics are coming back.

Microbiology, virology, and public health tell only part of the story. The other part is how societies interpret pandemics, are affected by them, and respond. In this book, William C. Cockerham lays the foundation for a sociology of pandemics, drawing on research across multiple disciplines to offer an in-depth introduction to the sociological dimensions of large-scale infectious disease outbreaks.

Featuring an innovative sociological model of pandemic causes and outcomes, The Sociology of Pandemics is essential reading for students and scholars of medical sociology, social epidemiology, and public health – a timely introduction to one of the most urgent subjects of today.

William C. Cockerham is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Chair Emeritus at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park.