DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2021.v09i04.001

Pages: 90-99

This study aims at analysing the social logic of the use of second-hand underwear by the women in Abidjan with regard to the construction of the health risks involved. The text is based on the results of a qualitative study conducted in Abidjan. It emerges from this investigation that the use of second-hand pants among women in Abidjan is guided by various social representations of health risk. These representations can be grouped around two main types of ideological references: ideologies based on knowledge of health risk [1] and ideologies of acceptability of health risk [2]. These ideological productions are socially marked, and are mobilised by the actors to justify their behaviour "at risk" from the use of second-hand pants.