Introduction: The Sociology of Chronic and Disabling Conditions; G.Scambler & S.Scambler Studying the Experience of Chronic Illness Through Grounded Theory; K.Charmaz Medical Sociology and Disability Theory; C.Thomas 'Beyond Models': Understanding the Complexity of Disabled People's Lives; T.Shakespeare & N.Watson 'Where the Biological Predominates': Habitus, Reflexivity and Capital Accrual within the Field of Batten Disease; S.Scambler & P.Newton Discerning Biological, Psychological and Social Mechanisms in the Impact of Epilepsy on the Individual: A Framework and Exploration; G.Scambler, P.Afentouli & C.Selai Retheorizing the Clinical Encounter: Normalization Processes and the Corporate Ecologies of Care; C.May 'Chronicity', Proto-Stories and the Doctor-Patient Relationship; A.Radley Chronic Illness, Self-Management and the Rhetoric of Empowerment; M.Bury Understanding Incapacity; G.Williams The Biopolitics of Chronic Illness: Biology, Power and Personhood; S.Williams