Societies and Health

The aim of this research group is to add to our knowledge of health practices and its representations via multidisciplinary analyses of the way authorities provide health care and treatment.

Research into public health policy and other related policy areas such as work, the environment, and the family is conducted via studies of the spatial, temporal and cultural dimensions of health practice. A priority is to study the ethical dimension, particularly in relation to bio-medical research and therapeutic practice.

The aim is to analyse the practice of those involved in the health system and the interaction between health professions and non-specialist practice, and so account for the impact of the health priorities and decisions of different social groups.

Equally, considering gender relations in bodily practice in the social and health professions and in family care allows the sexuated dimension of health practice and policy to be highlighted.

The Societies and Health group has three research areas with a transversal objective:

‘Work and Health’

Research relates to varying sectors: industries, private and public sector businesses, services, administrations, etc. and to the various dimensions of health in the workplace: the impact of changing work patterns, risk prevention policies, damages and compensation systems.

‘Vulnerable Situations and Personal Status’

The notion of vulnerability has been used in different ways over the years in the field of Social Sciences and health, and has also varied from one social space to another. It is thus necessary to clarify various associated notions and concepts (incapacity, dependency, fragility, risk, precariousness, exclusion). Institutional and professional responses are also analysed, and their effect on the identities and scope of action of individuals and their immediate circle.

‘Health and the Environment’

By pooling and comparing research into the environment and health, the MSH Bretagne Social and Human Science teams analyse multidisciplinary questions: the way the two concepts of ‘health’ and ‘the environment’ were first associated, the way their relationship has changed over time and the implications this has for society. The French constitution recognizes the right of everyone to ‘live in a balanced environment that respects their health’ (French Constitutional Charter relating to the Environment, March 2005), and this means that it is necessary to question the multiple, complex meanings of the notion of the ‘balanced’ environment ‘that respects their health’ and to assess how effective this decree is.