The emergency caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 disease brought many perverse effects with it, including an increase in global inequalities. This problem, which is particularly evident in terms of access to healthcare, has been exacerbated by the unequal distribution of vaccines between countries with advanced capitalism and developing countries, and between the wealthiest and poorest segments of the population. Nine months after the first vaccine dose was delivered, only 1% of the population in low-income countries had received at least one dose.
Following the sociological theory that first identified in the fracture between technical-scientific rationality and social rationality the point of rupture between the fairy tale of modern capitalism and the degeneration of contemporary industrial capitalism, this work aims to understand whether the faith in science, technology and economy (considered as indispensable elements for well-being, equality and freedom) still makes sense today.
Faced with the observation that the problem of inequalities in access to vaccines is also the product of a problem of scarcity of resources, and through an analysis of the pharmaceutical legislation currently in force, we will try to understand whether the measure promoted by various world leaders and organisations to suspend vaccine patents is a realistic option.
The case study on vaccine patents will therefore represent an opportunity to bring theoretical discourses back to concrete problems and, through an examination of the latter, to verify whether the hypotheses formulated stand the test of economic and social reality.
Through this project, we believe we will be able to make a significant advancement in the debate on the critique of capitalism and post-pandemic models of modernisation. In particular, thanks to the extremely interdisciplinary approach characterising this investigation - which represents a source of originality and relevance on a national and international level - we will try to provide an original and completely new interpretation of the problems of well-being, inequalitiy/equality and freedom in contemporary industrial capitalism. Moreover, the project is innovative with respect to the existing state of the art on the subject. Moreover, the project is innovative with respect to the existing state of the art on the subject. This is the first time that the relationship between general sociology and the field of pharmaceutical legislation is addressed by means of an analysis that aims to combine the typical characteristics of the different points of view through which we can examine the issues currently related to health safeguard. This interconnected analysis makes a significant contribution to the whole field of social sciences and humanities. The originality of the project also lies in the fact that it addresses the issue at hand by means of non-traditional heuristics and a new interpretation of the rift between social and scientific-technical rationality. The researchers of the present project expect to advance interdisciplinary scientific knowledge by overcoming the theoretical and methodological barriers currently separating sectoral knowledge on these issues. The emphasis on the attempt to reveal the close correlation between the pathologies of capitalism, the social pathologies and the medical pathologies, should help support the debate on the development of a more humane and socially sustainable capitalism. The vaccine patent case study is intended as an opportunity to portray the complexity of the changes currently taking place, to highlight the grounds for conflicting positions, to read the interrelation between different areas of social reality, and to focus on the role played by values in development theories and processes. After all, this is the axiological, value-based and prospective framework within which we should frame the solution to the numerous problems linked to health, well-being, inequality, social justice, poverty, peace and global solidarity.