Abstract
This article analyzes how sick people produce specific types of collective engagement and political participation. Through the concept of "biosociality" we discuss the engagement of individuals who share similar bodily and biological conditions. In addition, we debate how patient groups influence the political, economic, and scientific spheres. Our results show that, on the one hand, biosocial groups reinforce civil, political and social dimensions of traditional citizenship; on the other, those groups add a biological aspect to the exercise of citizenship. Thus, this article contributes to rethink the conventional concepts of illness, public participation and citizenship.
Keywords:
biosociality; biological citizenship; patient groups