This book is a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between the social sciences and the appearance and growth of bioethics, and provides new analysis on how ordinary questions become ‘bioethical’ questions. It provides new analysis on the variations between different countries and their health systems. It questions why some bioethical issues fail to attract the attention of bioethicists. It investigates the effect of the rise of bioethics in the field of medical sociology. It is an essential text for medical sociologists, medical anthropologists, bioethicists, and to the increasingly large audience of those interested in the relationship between the social sciences and bioethics.