12 research outputs found
La conservation autologue de sang de cordon ombilical : une ouverture sur une forme émergente de «citoyenneté biologique»
La transformation du sang de cordon ombilical en une prĂ©cieuse source de cellules souches a, dĂšs le dĂ©but des annĂ©es 1990, donnĂ© naissance Ă une industrie commerciale globale de conservation faisant dĂ©sormais concurrence Ă un large rĂ©seau de conservation public. Ce mĂ©moire cherche Ă comprendre et Ă expliquer les soubassements socio-culturels liĂ©s Ă lâĂ©mergence de cette industrie, ainsi quâĂ mieux cerner les enjeux Ă©thiques et politiques quâelle pose. En exposant en premier lieu la maniĂšre dont les institutions publiques de conservation de sang de cordon se dĂ©finissent, et sont gĂ©nĂ©ralement dĂ©finies par les comitĂ©s bioĂ©thiques, comme Ă©tant porteuses des valeurs dâaltruisme et de solidaritĂ© nationale traditionnellement liĂ©es au modĂšle « redistributif » dâĂ©change de sang et dâorganes nĂ© au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, nous problĂ©matisons la maniĂšre innovatrice par laquelle les banques privĂ©es structurent le rapport entre les mĂšres et leurs propres produits biologiques comme lâexpression dâune reconfiguration du lien social et politique caractĂ©risĂ©e par lâĂ©mergence de nouvelles socialisĂ©s. LâhypothĂšse au coeur de ce mĂ©moire est que celles-ci peuvent ĂȘtre comprises comme lâaboutissant de lâespoir collectivement partagĂ© par les consommatrices dâamĂ©liorer leur propre condition biologique familiale, Ă©tant lui-mĂȘme le fruit dâune financiarisation croissante des sciences du vivant. En analysant le discours « promissif » que reprĂ©sente le matĂ©riel promotionnel des banques autologues, notre objectif est alors dâidentifier la maniĂšre par laquelle les multiples potentialitĂ©s attribuĂ©es au sang de cordon dĂ©finissent des subjectivitĂ©s maternelles caractĂ©risĂ©es par des obligations morales spĂ©cifiques.The recent transformation of cord blood to a precious source of stem cells has given rise to a global commercial industry of conservation, which is now competing with a large network of public cord blood banks. This dissertation explores the socio-cultural context surrounding the emergence of that industry and aims at elucidating the ethical and political concerns that it generates. It begins by examining how public cord blood banks define themselves (and are defined by ethical commitees) as purveyors of values such as altruism and national solidarity -that is, values which were traditionally linked to the « redistributive » model of human blood and organs exchanges that emerged after World War II. It next argues that private banks are bringing about a radical transformation of the relationship between mothers and their biological âproductsâ. This dissertation suggests that this innovative model of exchange is an expression of contemporary reconfigurations of the very notion of community, which is now characterized by what we call new forms of âbiosocialityâ. Our hypothesis is that these new socialities can be understood as the consequence of a collective hope to improve familial biological conditions, which is itself the product of the growing financiarization of life sciences. By way of a foray into the « promissive » discourse employed by private banks for their promotional material, the dissertation attemps to identify how these potentialities attributed to cord blood define new maternal subjectivities characterized by specific moral duties and obligations
Melinda Cooper, Family Values. Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism
Sâinscrivant dans la continuitĂ© des travaux du sociologue Pierre Dardot et du philosophe Christian Laval, du gĂ©ographe Jamie Peck ou de la philosophe Wendy Brown, la sociologue Melinda Cooper nous propose dans Family Values une histoire culturelle du nĂ©olibĂ©ralisme permettant de retracer la construction de ce quâelle conçoit comme une « rationalité » proprement nĂ©olibĂ©rale. Partant de lâidĂ©e quâil existerait des frontiĂšres nettes entre les politiques identitaires et les luttes de classes, les..
La conservation autologue de sang de cordon ombilical : vers une nouvelle forme de participation biocitoyenne ?
La transformation du sang placentaire en une prĂ©cieuse source de cellules souches a donnĂ© naissance Ă partir des annĂ©es 1990 Ă une industrie globale de conservation de sang de cordon ombilical faisant dĂ©sormais concurrence Ă un large rĂ©seau de banques publiques de sang de cordon. Cet article explore les soubassements socioculturels liĂ©s Ă lâĂ©mergence de cette industrie et tente dâĂ©lucider les enjeux Ă©thiques et politiques quâelle pose. Si les banques publiques de sang de cordon sont porteuses des valeurs dâaltruisme et de solidaritĂ© nationale traditionnellement liĂ©es au modĂšle redistributif dâĂ©change de sang et dâorganes nĂ© aprĂšs la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les banques privĂ©es renvoient, elles, Ă des formes de solidaritĂ© bien diffĂ©rentes. Câest effectivement sous couvert de la solidaritĂ© familiale et de la responsabilitĂ© morale des mĂšres de protĂ©ger leurs enfants quâelles dĂ©finissent la conservation privĂ©e comme une forme dâ « assurance biologique » contre les risques Ă la santĂ© de lâenfant. En permettant aux mĂšres dâinvestir leurs tissus corporels Ă la fois dans le futur incertain de leurs enfants et dans des thĂ©rapies cellulaires expĂ©rimentales, ces banques promeuvent un nouveau modĂšle de participation du/de la patient.e Ă la coconstitution de futures innovations thĂ©rapeutiques. Nous inscrivons ce modĂšle de participation dans les reconfigurations contemporaines du biopolitique que le sociologue britannique Nikolas Rose (2007) voit sâincarner dans lâĂ©mergence dâune nouvelle forme de biocitoyennetĂ©. Lâarticle critique finalement ces services personnalisĂ©s en soulignant quâils ont le potentiel dâopĂ©rer de nouvelles formes de coercition sur les mĂšres, dans un contexte sociopolitique caractĂ©risĂ© par une responsabilisation accrue des individus au regard de la « bonne gestion » de leurs risques Ă la santĂ©. Ces services sont aussi jugĂ©s problĂ©matiques sur le plan Ă©thique, au vu de leur incohĂ©rence avec un principe de justice distributive dĂ©fendant lâaccĂšs Ă©gal pour chaque citoyen.ne Ă des soins de santĂ© de base.Since the 1990s, the transformation of cord blood into a precious source of stem cells has given rise to a global cord blood bank industry, which is now competing with a large network of public cord blood banks. This article explores the sociocultural context surrounding the emergence of this industry and aims at elucidating the ethical and political concerns that this industry raises. Whereas public cord blood banks are purveyors of values such as altruism and national solidarity traditionally linked to the redistributive model of human blood and organ donation that emerged after World War Two, private banks engage very different forms of solidarity. It is indeed under the guise of family solidarity and mothersâ moral responsibility to do their best to protect their children that they come to define private preservation as a form of âbiological insuranceâ against potential risks to their childrenâs health. By allowing mothers to invest their bodily tissues simultaneously in their childrenâs uncertain future and in experimental cell therapies, these banks promote a new model of patient participation in the development of future therapeutic innovations. This article analyzes this model as embedded in the contemporary reconfiguration of biopolitics that sociologist Nikolas Rose (2007) envisions as constituting a new form of biocitizenship. The paper finally casts a critical eye on these personalized services, in particular because of the new forms of social coercion on mothers that are brought about in a social and political context characterized by an increasing moral accountability of individuals with regard to the âgood managementâ of their own health risks. These services also appear ethically problematic in relation to political demands of distributive justiceâe.g., the ideal of equal access to basic health care for every citizen
La conservation familiale de sang placentaire et la (re)privatisation de la reproduction socialeÂ
La conservation de sang de cordon ombilical au Canada constitue un cas dâĂ©tude intĂ©ressant afin dâanalyser les consĂ©quences de la gouvernance nĂ©olibĂ©rale sur la reproduction sociale, notamment sur les institutions de soins de santĂ©, ainsi que sur la formation des subjectivitĂ©s politiques contemporaines. Elle illustre de maniĂšre Ă©loquente le passage dâune logique distributive des « produits » du corps, issue de lâĂtat-providence Ă une orientation nĂ©olibĂ©rale fondĂ©e sur une privatisation de ceux-ci ; cela prĂ©cisĂ©ment parce que deux modĂšles (lâun public, lâautre privĂ©) de bio-banques coexistent actuellement dans le contexte canadien oĂč lâaccĂšs universel au systĂšme de santĂ© peine Ă se maintenir. Cet article examine la maniĂšre dont le discours promotionnel des banques commerciales de sang de cordon installĂ©es au Canada articule des conceptions particuliĂšres de la santĂ©, de la maternitĂ© et de la famille. AprĂšs avoir exposĂ© les mĂ©canismes de responsabilisation des mĂšres face Ă la santĂ© de leur enfant prĂ©sents dans le discours, lâarticle rĂ©examine la portĂ©e du concept de biocitoyennetĂ© dans la perspective de lâapproche fĂ©ministe de la reproduction sociale. En relevant la centralitĂ© de la famille dans lâĂ©conomie morale nĂ©olibĂ©rale, lâarticle soutient la nĂ©cessitĂ© de situer les discussions rĂ©centes concernant les mutations biopolitiques dans des considĂ©rations plus larges de justice distributive et de genre.Cord blood banking in Canada is an interesting case study for analyzing consequences of neoliberal governance on social reproductionâhealth care institutions in particularâas well as the formation of contemporary political subjectivities. It illustrates the shift from a welfare state logic of distribution of the human bodyâs âproductsâ to a neo-liberal orientation based on the commodification of these products. This is so because two biobanking models (one of them private and the other public) coexist in the current Canadian context where universal access to health care is increasingly challenged. This paper examines how the promotional discourse of Canadian-based commercial cord blood banks articulates culturally situated conceptions of health, motherhood and family in relation to the broader themes of neoliberal accountability and consumer choice. I argue that discursive strategies that encourage expecting women to act as responsible mothers by insuring the future health of their children operate within this discourse as techniques of neoliberal governmentality. Building upon these observations, this article re-examines the scope of the concept of biocitizenship through the feminist lens of social reproduction. By highlighting the centrality of the family in the neoliberal moral economy, this article stresses the need to situate recent debates on biopolitical changes within broader considerations of gender and distributive justice
L'économie de l'espoir en chirurgie de l'obésité : de l'économie de l'espoir à la biocitoyenneté
En mâappuyant sur la sociologie des attentes technoscientifiques et les Ă©tudes critiques du handicap, jâanalyse dans cette thĂšse lâexpĂ©rience de personnes diagnostiquĂ©es comme obĂšses ou obĂšses « morbides » ayant subi une chirurgie bariatrique (ou de perte de poids). Alors que la lutte contre l'obĂ©sitĂ© a longtemps mis lâaccent sur les changements de mode de vie, les discours de santĂ© publique ont pris un ton plus urgent Ă partir des annĂ©es 2000, qualifiant lâobĂ©sitĂ© dâ« Ă©pidĂ©mie » justifiant des interventions radicales. ParallĂšlement, le stigmate contre la graisse corporelle sâest intensifiĂ©, et le nombre de chirurgies bariatriques a connu une croissance exponentielle, notamment chez les femmes. Je dĂ©fends que ces phĂ©nomĂšnes concomitants doivent ĂȘtre interprĂ©tĂ©s dans le contexte dâune « Ă©conomie de lâespoir » qui englobe les anticipations des promoteurs de la santĂ© publique, des chercheurs en obĂ©sitĂ© et chirurgiens bariatriques, des personnes en situation dâobĂ©sitĂ©, et de leurs proches. Au sein de cette dynamique, la clinique bariatrique devient un lieu oĂč se croisent et se heurtent plusieurs dĂ©finitions de lâ« obĂ©sitĂ© » et diffĂ©rentes prioritĂ©s de santĂ©. En me basant sur des entretiens semi-directifs menĂ©s avec des patientes bariatriques et des cliniciens, jâexplore comment les patientes qui sâest manifestĂ© de maniĂšre Ă la fois discursive, Ă©motionnelle et matĂ©rielle, influençant leurs adoptent, rejettent ou rĂ©interprĂštent les notions mĂ©dicalisĂ©es de lâobĂ©sitĂ©. Je le fais en examinant les motivations des personnes en obĂ©sitĂ© Ă subir une chirurgie bariatrique, ainsi que les transformations physiques, physiologiques, identitaires et sociales qui dĂ©coulent de ce processus. Je fais valoir que la dĂ©cision de recourir Ă la chirurgie de perte de poids nâa pas pour seul objectif lâamĂ©lioration de leur santĂ© actuelle et future, mais vise Ă©galement Ă obtenir une corpulence conforme aux normes sociales, qui leur permet dâaccĂ©der Ă certains espaces communs et partagĂ©s et de remplir des rĂŽles sociaux spĂ©cifiques. Je montre que les participantes ont fait l'expĂ©rience dâun stigmate attentes Ă lâĂ©gard de la chirurgie, ainsi que leurs expĂ©riences de ses effets multiples et parfois contradictoires. Jâanalyse comment cet objectif de normalisation corporelle est atteint au prix de lâacquisition de nouvelles formes de chronicitĂ©, dont la gestion reconfigure le rĂŽle de la patiente et la relation entre la patiente et le mĂ©decin. En analysant les contradictions propres Ă la clinique de lâobĂ©sitĂ©, cette analyse rĂ©interprĂšte le processus de biomĂ©dicalisation comme une logique de substitution ou de dĂ©placement de la chronicitĂ© plutĂŽt que de normalisation ou dâoptimisation.Drawing on the sociology of technoscientific expectations and critical disability studies, this thesis investigates the experiences of individuals diagnosed with obesity or morbid obesity who have undergone bariatric (weight loss) surgery. While the fight against obesity has long emphasized lifestyle changes, public health discourse has taken on a more urgent tone since the early 2000s, labeling obesity as an "epidemicâ justifying radical interventions. Concurrently, the stigma against excess body weight has intensified, and the number of bariatric surgeries has grown exponentially, particularly among women. I argue that these concurrent phenomena should be understood within the framework of an "economy of hope" that encompasses the expectations of public health advocates, obesity researchers, bariatric surgeons, individuals with obesity, and their closed ones. Within this dynamic, the bariatric clinic becomes a site where multiple definitions of "obesity" and different health priorities intersect and collide. Using semi-structured interviews with bariatric patients and clinicians, I investigate how patients either adopt, reject, or reinterpret medicalized notions of obesity. I achieve this by examining the motivations of individuals with obesity for choosing bariatric surgery and the ensuing physical, physiological, identity, and social transformations. I argue that the decision to undergo weight loss surgery is not solely driven by a desire to enhance current and future health but also to attain a body shape that aligns with societal norms, enabling access to shared spaces and the fulfillment of specific social roles. I demonstrate that participants experience a stigma that manifests itself in discursive, emotional, and material ways, shaping their expectations regarding surgery and their experiences of its multifaceted and at times contradictory effects. I analyze how the pursuit of bodily normalization leads to the acquisition of new forms of chronicity, which, in turn, reshapes the patient's role and the patient-physician relationship. By highlighting the contradictions within the clinic of obesity, this analysis reinterprets the process of biomedicalization as a logic of substitution or shifting chronicity rather than normalization or optimization
La conservation familiale de sang placentaire et la (re)privatisation de la reproduction socialeÂ
Cord blood banking in Canada is an interesting case study for analyzing consequences of neoliberal governance on social reproductionâhealth care institutions in particularâas well as the formation of contemporary political subjectivities. It illustrates the shift from a welfare state logic of distribution of the human bodyâs âproductsâ to a neo-liberal orientation based on the commodification of these products. This is so because two biobanking models (one of them private and the other public) coexist in the current Canadian context where universal access to health care is increasingly challenged. This paper examines how the promotional discourse of Canadian-based commercial cord blood banks articulates culturally situated conceptions of health, motherhood and family in relation to the broader themes of neoliberal accountability and consumer choice. I argue that discursive strategies that encourage expecting women to act as responsible mothers by insuring the future health of their children operate within this discourse as techniques of neoliberal governmentality. Building upon these observations, this article re-examines the scope of the concept of biocitizenship through the feminist lens of social reproduction. By highlighting the centrality of the family in the neoliberal moral economy, this article stresses the need to situate recent debates on biopolitical changes within broader considerations of gender and distributive justice
Melinda Cooper, Family Values. between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism
In Family Values, sociologist Melinda Cooper presents the reader with a cultural history of neoliberalism. Her research follows the line of work done by sociologist Pierre Dardot and philosopher Christian Laval, geographer Jamie Peck, and philosopher Wendy Brown. Her work allows us to revisit the construction of what she perceives as a specifically neoliberal ârationale.â Based on the idea that a clear boundary would exist between identity politics and class struggle, recent historiographies ..
Pharmaceuticalisation et fin de vie. La sédation profonde comme nouvelle norme du « bien mourir »
The field of palliative care and serving the dying reflects the broader individualization of death. Focused on the notion of autonomy, the ideal death is now defined as discrete, unsconscious and hygienic. Based on a significant medical expertise which allows to alleviate physical pain, to chemically control anguish and fear, to neutralize odours and marks of agony, this ideal involves an ongoing tension between control and dependance. Emblematic of what sociologists Nikolas Rose refers as biocitizenship, that is a form of citizenship focused around the politicisation of individual health and the emergence of identity-based claims bound to biomedical issues, the hospice palliative care movement is embedded in the global process of pharmaceuticalization that characterises contemporary western societies. Starting from a sociological questionning on the increasing use of continuous deep sedation in the biomedical management of the end of life, this article analyses the phenomenon of pharmaceutical control of suffering from the theoretical perspective of pharmaceuticalization. Beyond the death denial and pain refusal thesis, the article shows that deep sedation is indissociable from a will of control and self-enhancement that is symptomatic of biocitizenship. Far from a simple refusal of pain, the norm of deep sedation rather indicates that « unproductive » pain â that is pain that is not part of therapeutic, enhancement or experimental rationales â tends to become socially intolerable. In this way, deep sedation both appears as the limit and the ultimate expression of biocitizenship
Pharmaceuticalisation et fin de vie. La sédation profonde comme nouvelle norme du « bien mourir »
Les soins palliatifs et lâaccompagnement des mourants sâinscrivent dans le mouvement plus large dâindividualisation de la mort. CentrĂ©e sur la notion dâautonomie, la mort idĂ©ale se veut aujourdâhui discrĂšte, inconsciente et hygiĂ©nique. Impensable sans une importante expertise mĂ©dicale qui permet de soulager la douleur physique, de contrĂŽler chimiquement lâangoisse et la peur, de neutraliser les odeurs et les traces de lâagonie, cet idĂ©al suppose une tension constante entre contrĂŽle et dĂ©pendance. EmblĂ©matique de ce que le sociologue Nikolas Rose nomme la biocitoyennetĂ©, soit une forme de citoyennetĂ© centrĂ©e sur une politisation de la santĂ© individuelle et sur lâĂ©mergence de revendications identitaires reliĂ©es Ă des questions dâordre biomĂ©dical, le mouvement en faveur des soins palliatifs sâinscrit en fait dans le processus global de pharmaceuticalisation caractĂ©risant les sociĂ©tĂ©s occidentales contemporaines. Partant dâun questionnement sociologique sur lâusage croissant de la sĂ©dation profonde dans la gestion biomĂ©dicale de la fin de vie, cet article propose dâanalyser le phĂ©nomĂšne du contrĂŽle mĂ©dicamenteux de la souffrance sous lâangle de la pharmaceuticalisation. Au-delĂ de la thĂšse du dĂ©ni de la mort et du refus de la douleur, il sâagira plutĂŽt de comprendre que la sĂ©dation profonde est indissociable dâune volontĂ© de contrĂŽle et dâoptimisation de soi propre Ă la biocitoyennetĂ©. Loin dâun simple refus de la douleur, la norme de la sĂ©dation profonde indique plutĂŽt que la douleur « improductive », câest-Ă -dire celle qui ne sâinscrit pas dans une logique thĂ©rapeutique, mĂ©liorative ou expĂ©rimentale, tant Ă devenir socialement intolĂ©rable. La sĂ©dation profonde apparaĂźt ainsi Ă la fois comme la limite et lâexpression ultime de la biocitoyennetĂ©.The field of palliative care and serving the dying reflects the broader individualization of death. Focused on the notion of autonomy, the ideal death is now defined as discrete, unsconscious and hygienic. Based on a significant medical expertise which allows to alleviate physical pain, to chemically control anguish and fear, to neutralize odours and marks of agony, this ideal involves an ongoing tension between control and dependance. Emblematic of what sociologists Nikolas Rose refers as biocitizenship, that is a form of citizenship focused around the politicisation of individual health and the emergence of identity-based claims bound to biomedical issues, the hospice palliative care movement is embedded in the global process of pharmaceuticalization that characterises contemporary western societies. Starting from a sociological questionning on the increasing use of continuous deep sedation in the biomedical management of the end of life, this article analyses the phenomenon of pharmaceutical control of suffering from the theoretical perspective of pharmaceuticalization. Beyond the death denial and pain refusal thesis, the article shows that deep sedation is indissociable from a will of control and self-enhancement that is symptomatic of biocitizenship. Far from a simple refusal of pain, the norm of deep sedation rather indicates that « unproductive » pain â that is pain that is not part of therapeutic, enhancement or experimental rationales â tends to become socially intolerable. In this way, deep sedation both appears as the limit and the ultimate expression of biocitizenship
Pandemics in the age of the Anthropocene: Is âplanetary healthâ the answer?
Some observers have described the coronavirus pandemic as an âAnthropocene disease,â thereby highlighting its connection with this new ecological era that is characterised by the considerable pressure human activities are exerting on ecosystems and the consequences on public health, society and the environment. This article focuses on the recent emergence of the âPlanetary Healthâ paradigm. Launched by the Rockefeller Foundation and the medical journal The Lancet, Planetary Health is one of the most ambitious attempts in recent years to systematize global health in the Anthropocene. While recognising the interest and necessity of reflecting on human health and the health of the planet, this article aims to show, however, that the Planetary Health paradigm is problematic and aporetic for two reasons. First, because it is based on a scientistic and depoliticised conception of the Anthropocene, which obscures capitalismâs responsibility for the contemporary global and, especially, ecological crisis. Second, because this conception leads to a promotion of solutions that are essentially based on the financialization and technoscientific management of the living world â precisely the underlying cause of the degradation of ecosystems and living conditions that created the Anthropocene in the first place. A different kind of âplanetary healthâ remains possible and desirable