Introduction

This chapter provides the background to the health, technology and society (hts) book series. All books in the series address a number of broad themes, showing that medicine, health care and the wider social meaning and management of health are undergoing major changes. In part this reflects developments in science and technology, which enable new forms of diagnosis, treatment and the delivery of health care. It also reflects changes in the locus of care and burden of responsibility for health. Genetics, digital technologies, imaging and integrative technologies, such as nanotechnology, are redefining our understanding of the body, health and disease. Furthermore, health is no longer simply the domain of conventional medicine, nor the clinic. The ‘birth of the clinic’ heralded the process through which health and illness became increasingly subject to the surveillance of medicine. Although such surveillance is more complex, sophisticated and precise as seen in the search for ‘predictive medicine’ as well as ‘personalised medicine’, it is also more provisional, uncertain and risk laden. The introduction outlines the structure of the book, divided into five thematic sections: innovation, responsibility, locus of care, knowledge production and regulation and governance.