SantESIH
Health, Education and Disability (Sant.E.Si.H. - UR_UM211)
Research sectors: Sociology, Anthropology
Director: Dr. Eric Perera (MCF - HDR)
UR-UM211 brings together researchers working initially on the general theme of social categorization processes, processes of distinction, domination or discrimination.
In terms of scientific organization, this young team has a central research focus for the 2007-2014 period, which can be summed up as follows: "Dynamics of disability production and reduction processes".
This is part of the current international health research field, which has been opening up significantly since the 1990s to the consideration of contextual factors. As such, complex approaches to health issues are valued, and all the members of this humanities and social sciences team contribute to the collective research program, bringing complementary skills to the table.
Although health has no longer been defined as a simple absence of disease, but as "a state of physical, psychological and social well-being", and has been for almost 50 years, it has to be said that this broader definition, which goes beyond the medical, has long remained little used in social practices. In 2001, the 54th World Health Assembly (WHO) endorsed the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to better coordinate health research and monitoring activities in member states. Despite the many debates it has been the subject of, the ICF embodies the desire to take greater account of environmental and personal factors in the functioning and health of populations.
It is within this framework that our team is developing an interdisciplinary research program focused on "processes of production and reduction of disability situations". By focusing on the articulation of different levels of analysis (individual behavior, the experiences of subjects, the actions of groups and communities, institutional frameworks, their practices, norms and laws), we propose to study how situations of disability, resulting from a problematic encounter between populations affected by disorders, pathologies or deficiencies and social and cultural environments, are constructed in school, sports and professional environments.
The aim is twofold: to study and model the processes involved in the construction and reduction of disability situations encountered by different populations in different social spaces, and to propose effective procedures for reducing these situations.
The laboratory is attached to the Ecole Doctorale 60 "Territoires, Temps, Sociétés et Développement"of the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier.
