Health-Society Representations
origin and social determinants
This axis aims to better understand the sociological representations of health-society, by looking for their origin in the foundations of social thought. The analyses will therefore rely on the architecture of social thought defined by Flament & Rouquette in 2003, making it possible to explain that social representations are based on beliefs, values, norms and thêmata :
We could mention that "the values stemming from an ideological level are anchored in the central core of social representations" (Gambys-Mass et al., 2012, p. 322), which invited us to propose that the norm and value found in our study could come from the foundations of social thought. On the other hand, it seems that ideology determines the system of values for which an ordination criterion would be a thema. The thêmata, mentioned in the ideological level, are intimately linked to the objectification of social representations (Negura & Lungu, 2011). There is, moreover, an unlimited number of thêmata (Gaymard, 2021). Guimelli specifies that the notion of thêmata can be defined "as a set of first conceptions, key ideas, archetypes, deeply rooted in the collective memory of a society. In other words, the thêmata are expressed in common notions strongly anchored and shared within a given culture [...] social representations, in particular, do not escape this rule and, according to Moscovici, they will be produced around these key ideas, which even, will generate them" (Guimelli, 1999, p. 103).
Flament, C., & Rouquette, M.-L. (2003). Anatomie des idées ordinaires. Comment étudier les représentations sociales. Armand Colin.
Gamby-Mas, D., Spadoni-Lemes, L.-M., & Mariot, J. (2012). Idéologie et représentations sociales : Étude expérimentale du rôle des thêmata. Bulletin de Psychologie, 520, 321‑335.
Gaymard, S. (2021). Les fondements des représentations sociales. Dunod.
Guimelli, C. (1999). La pensée sociale. PUF.
Negura, L., & Nungu, O. (2011). Les thêmata et l’ancrage sociologique de la nostalgie d’un passé historique. Le cas de l’ostalgie. Les cahiers internationaux de Psychologie sociale, 87‑105.
Research results:
It has been highlighted that each representational system has its own rationality, with a form of rationality favored according to the anchoring. Modern anchors will have favored a rationality in finality, seeking the necessary means to achieve the targeted objectives, as defined by Max Weber, whereas postmodern anchors will have favored an axiological rationality, in order to achieve their objectives in line with their deep values. The first sociological results on the understanding of the origin of health-society representations, have highlighted that several constituents of the ideological level of opposing groups seem to participate in the genesis of these representations. Indeed, the theosophical, spiritual and philosophical constituents seem decisive. The component of inness in the strict sense, pointing to the pre-existence of knowledge accessible through intuition, the belief in a life after death, or even the paradigm of linear causality between scientific truth and reality, appear to be decisive in the orientation and genesis of health-society representations.
The postmodern anchors seem to have mostly, to varying degrees, an ideology associated with innéism in the strict sense, with a belief in a life after death, and with a scientific truth that is not the only reflection of perceived reality, in the sense defined by Nietzsche. The modern anchorages, on the other hand, seem to have mostly, in varying degrees, an ideology not associated with innatenism in the strict sense, with the non-belief of a life after death, and with a truth that is the only reflection of perceived reality, according to a paradigm of linear causality. In addition, the value of a medicine without side effects taking better account of the individual, seems to come from the ideological level, being correlated with theosophical and spiritual constituents of innésime in the strict sense and belief of a life after death.
Understanding the origin of health-society representations nevertheless requires further studies on the identification of the thêmata involved, as well as on the interaction of the different constituents at the ideological level. This work will be the subject of an extension project. It will also be important not to forget that other parameters can intervene and should be studied, such as political, personal, institutional or even financial power issues, which can shape health-society representations.
