Abstract

SARRAZIN, Jean Paul. The government of science. Reflections from the social theory on health policies during the Covid-19 "pandemic". Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2023, vol.46, n.1, pp.117-138.  Epub May 02, 2024. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v46n1/101386.

Following the declaration of a pandemic in 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), some health policies were implemented in various countries that would be essen-tial to avoid an unprecedented catastrophe. These policies were presented as the product of science, particularly the health sciences, and the rulers who adopted them always legiti-mized this decision by arguing that they were simply "following the science". This article draws on a range of leading social science theorists to analyze the relationship between science and politics, and the processes by which policies are legitimized appealing to science. The reflections are mainly based on the work of Michel Foucault, beginning with a historical overview of the links between medical science and the State in modernity. This allows us to demonstrate to what extent those health policies can be considered as the contemporary expression of what Foucault called biopower and security devices. On the other hand, this analysis takes elements from the sociology of science, referring to authors as Bruno Latour, who warns us about the persistent myth of "pure", asocial and ahistori-cal natural sciences, a purity that would render them immune to any criticism, especially from the social sciences. There would be a kind of "belief" or "faith in science" that is analyzed in the light of what was produced by Emile Durkheim and Ulrich Beck. The latter also makes it possible to note the growing political influence of the health sciences, that can even subordinate the legal system. It is concluded that health policies constitute a form of globalized biopower, since they are applied throughout the planet and are de-fined from supranational power organizations. Thus, organizations as the WHO centralize the relevant information and present themselves as the place of knowledge/power that produce the projections and precepts that everyone should follow, influencing the lives of billions of people.

Keywords : biopower; biopolitics; health policies; Michel Foucault; pandemic; public health.

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