Wolfson ‘Law in societies’ cluster event: Cultures of knowledge and emotion in health care practices
Cultures of knowledge and emotion in health care practices
Reform of public health care and its governance is a major topic of political debate not just in the UK, but in a range of jurisdictions. How can user experiences inform such debate? How do social characteristics, such as gender shape user experiences? What knowledges matter in shaping the delivery of health care services?
Against the backdrop of these wider questions this roundtable discussion focuses on the intersection of knowledge, institutions and emotions in the context of healthcare practices.
The panel presentations will start with a paper that sets the scene by discussing vulnerability as both a personal and collective experience, and thus as a relational societal phenomenon which sheds light on the link between affect and knowledge. Vulnerability is conceptualized as an anchor for understanding how individual autonomy, institutional authority, and social expectations are reconciled in public health governance.
The panel discussion will further draw on various examples of new social science research that illuminate how public health governance encounters challenges when managing the intersection of knowledge, institutions and emotions. The first example draws on qualitative empirical research about negative childbirth outcomes, which is set within the context of wider public debates between 2014-23 about obstetric violence in France. A further example discusses the impact of an anti-science network marginalizing traditional public health institutions for devising policies during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.
The examples prompt debate about whether public health governance is increasingly challenged by systemic crises arising from its inability to reconcile institutional authority with relational and affective dimensions of care. This, in turn, points to struggles of public health governance to maintain legitimacy in the face of diverse and often conflicting social expectations.
Program
2 pm: Welcome and Introduction
2.10 - 2.50 pm: Professor Anna Durnova, Dept. of Sociology, University of Vienna
‘The Sociality of Emotions: Vulnerability and the Legal Debate on Obstetric Violence
in France’
2.50 - 3.05 pm Coffee/tea break
3.05 - 3.35 Caio Machado, DPhil researcher, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of
Oxford
‘Of Knowledge and Networks: Anti-scientific Epistemologies in Brazil's Covid-19
Health Policy" ’
3.35 - 3.55 Assoc. Prof. Bettina Lange, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford
Discussant: ‘From vulnerability to resilience? – Institutionalizing cultures of
knowledge’
3.55 – 5.00 Plenary Discussion
Anna Durnova, ‘The Sociality of Emotions: Vulnerability and the Legal Debate on Obstetric Violence in France’
This article innovates by illuminating the interaction between affect and knowledge, suggesting that vulnerability is a relational societal phenomenon that is both personal and deeply entwined with sociopolitical contexts. Increasingly recognized as crucial in shaping perceptions of social justice and informing public policy, vulnerability is central to contemporary discussions on personal experience and institutional responsibility. Drawing on Zerilli’s concept of “knowing by feeling” and Alexander’s civil sphere theory, the article discusses how public framing shapes personal experiences of vulnerability.
Empirical data includes fourteen biographical interviews with French women who experienced negative childbirth outcomes, contextualized through a purposeful sample of documents from the public debate on obstetric violence in France from 2014 to 2023. The analysis offers critical insights that redefine vulnerability as both fragility and a manifestation of agency. It situates these findings within broader social-legal debates on healthcare practices, reproductive rights, and the public health imperative of dignified, respectful care. By demonstrating how vulnerability links knowledge, personal experience, and the institutional recognition of harm, the article highlights the importance of relational understanding of emotions. It advances sociology and public policy discussions by offering a nuanced conceptualization of the intersection of knowledge, institutions, and emotions.