Under the direction of Philippe Le Moigne (Cermes3) and Nadia Benturquia (Université Paris Cité)
In France, women are the leading consumers of opioid analgesics, prescribed for the treatment of pain (ANSM 2019). This situation invites us to investigate these gendered differences in consumption, going beyond the pharmacological argument of a match between disorder, prescription, and use (Le Moigne 2000). Opioid analgesics raise two main issues: the treatment of pain, at the core of medical and therapeutic development and management; and the risks of dependence, at the forefront of concerns about the use of these drugs since the end of the 2010s with the "opioid crisis" in the United States. This sociology thesis seeks to understand how gender contributes to shaping the trajectory of opioid analgesics, from pharmacology to use, in particular through these issues of pain and dependence risks.
