No. 38 (2021): Catholicism and medical practicies. Socio-historical approaches (XX-XXI centuries)

Coordinated by Samuel Dolbeau and Martin Dutron
Editorial coordination (Émulations) par Aurore Loretti

This thematic issue of Emulations. Revue de sciences sociales proposes to return to the question of the relationship between Catholicism and medical practices in the 20th and 21st centuries. The four articles examine this relationship using sociological and historical methods. The contributions by Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée and Jean-Victor Elie focus their analyses on actors, in this case Catholic health care workers, who are confronted with the challenges posed by the logic of secularisation inherent to the first part of the 20th century. The articles by Anthony Favier, Marion Maudet and Cécile Thomé focus on a study of Catholic discourses, using biomedical arguments, on issues related to the politics of intimacy: homosexuality and contraception. At the intersection of studies on contemporary Catholicism and on medical practices, and outside their own interests, issues relating to phenomena as diverse as politicisation, professionalisation, mutations of authority and agency are also discussed.