Sociology of health and illness has been enlivened with increased understanding of the complex roles, social factors and structures play in individual and societal health and well-being. New insights are simultaneously empirical and conceptual, leading to innovative approaches to analysis, as well as new conceptual frameworks. Three examples are: the social gradient of health, the population health perspective and the saliency of social fabric to both individual and societal well-being. Nonetheless, puzzles remain such as how social inequalities get under the skin, why socioeconomic improvements do not always yield life expectancy gains, and how to reduce health disparities and inequalities.