Résumés
Table of Contents
This article explores how social science research has addressed the wearing of health masks during the Covid-19 pandemic. It first focuses on the contributions which examined the controversies surrounding the practices of wearing a mask: the debates sparked by its uses, the uncertainties about its effectiveness, the supply problems, and the issues linked to the refusal to wear it. The article then explores a key aspect of the social science literature: the impact of wearing a mask on interpersonal communication and interactions in school and medical contexts. Finally, the subject focuses on research deepening the ways in which we appropriate the mask, the ways in which it is objectified, incorporated into ordinary practices. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of the tactics deployed to integrate this object into daily life, the adaptations generated by the shortage of masks, as well as the meanings attributed to its wearing within different social settings.
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Excerpt from the text
This document will be published online in full text in December 2025.
Plan
Wearing a health mask, a controversial practice
A history punctuated by disagreements
Debates and controversies over the supply of health masks
Wearing a mask in question
Interpersonal communication and social interactions when wearing a mask
Strong concerns about children and education
Sanitary masks in interactions between caregivers·s and cared for·s
Domesticating the sanitary mask: tactics and DIY
Living with health masks: the mask as a medium of identity
DIY and self-help devices in situations of shortage
Conclusion
Text preview
In recent years, the sanitary mask has attracted growing interest, with more and more questions and publications coming from the academic, medical and media circles. Wearing a mask affects areas as varied as health, politics, law, economy, culture, communication and gives rise to as many reflections and comments. This article focuses on how the wearing of health masks was studied by social science research during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic. What aspects of the phenomenon have attracted the attention of sociologists, anthropologists, historians, researchers in information and communication sciences? What questions were raised? What methods and data were used? What results were obtained?
By wanting to carry out an assessment of studies on the experience of wearing sanitary masks between 2020 and 2022 as part of a project relating to the acceptance…
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To cite this article
Paper reference
Laure Bolka-TabarySimona Of JulyAurélia LamyAnne-Coralie Bonnaire and Mary Berthoud, “From controversies to domestication”, Social science review74 | 2025, 16-27.
Electronic reference
Laure Bolka-TabarySimona Of JulyAurélia LamyAnne-Coralie Bonnaire and Mary Berthoud, “From controversies to domestication”, Social science review [En ligne]74 | 2025, posted online on December 12, 2025consulted on December 05, 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/revss/13345
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