Ha Jiwoo, Kim Chang-Yup
Institute of Health & Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sociol Health Illn. 2025 Jul;47(6):e70020. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.70020.
In the health sector, social movements have achieved notable success in certain counter-hegemonic struggles against neoliberalism. In South Korea, the 'publicness' discourse has been central to such movements. Through discourse analysis, this study examines two cases in which civic participation played a key role in successfully resisting privatisation. Our contribution includes a detailed contextualisation of for-profit hospital cases and a comprehensive analysis of antagonistic discourses, agents, and ideologies, grounded in the discourse theory developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Against neoliberal and developmental hegemony, a 'publicness' empty signifier articulated to public health institutions had hegemonic power, and the values of the health sector, including the right to health and health equity, served as a cross-sectoral unifying bond. Our findings present an account of a counter-hegemonic movement, which could contribute to power formation within and beyond a single sector and state. To conclude, we claim that although neoliberalism seems to dominate the health sector in South Korea and other national contexts, there are critical conjunctures which can challenge it and provide alternatives.
在卫生部门，社会运动在某些反对新自由主义的反霸权斗争中取得了显著成功。在韩国，“公共性”话语一直是此类运动的核心。通过话语分析，本研究考察了两个公民参与在成功抵制私有化中发挥关键作用的案例。我们的贡献包括对营利性医院案例进行详细的背景分析，以及基于欧内斯托·拉克劳（Ernesto Laclau）和尚塔尔·莫菲（Chantal Mouffe）发展的话语理论，对对立话语、主体和意识形态进行全面分析。反对新自由主义和发展霸权，与公共卫生机构相联系的“公共性”空能指具有霸权力量，卫生部门的价值观，包括健康权和健康公平，成为跨部门的统一纽带。我们的研究结果展示了一场反霸权运动，这可能有助于在单个部门和国家内外形成权力。总之，我们认为，尽管新自由主义似乎在韩国和其他国家背景下主导着卫生部门，但仍有关键的契机可以对其提出挑战并提供替代方案。
