Research

"State, Sociopolitical Actors, and Public Policies: A Multi-Site Study of Government Action in Six Areas of Public Intervention” Secretariat of Science and Technology, University of Buenos Aires. Program of Subsidies for Scientific and Technological Research (UBACyT 2020-2021)

Director: Guido Giorgi
In this project, we addressed a series of empirical objects that allowed us to account for the diversity of functioning, guidelines, actors, and institutions within state bureaucracies. The research aimed to examine the relationship between different bureaucratic frameworks, social actors, sectoral organizations, political and bureaucratic groups, and ideological dynamics in the functioning of specific areas of the State. Thus, we sought to account for the formation of public policy networks, the configuration of cognitive frameworks, and the emergence of new state capacities around six areas of intervention: i) social policies, ii) production policies, iii) security policies, iv) justice policies, v) labor policies, and vi) relations policies exterior.

"Interpretation and disputes surrounding needs. Gender, Care, and Youth in Argentina During and After the Pandemic” (Biennial Research and Development Projects – Research and Development Secretariat of the University of Tres de Febrero (PID-2025-2026))

Director: Carla Zibecchi
The project’s main objective is to analyze how three issues central to recent Argentine history have become a matter of governance and debate: the treatment of youth; the recognition of community care work; and the controversies surrounding the triad of gender, women, and diversity. We propose to examine the categories and classifications created to address these issues and the more material and tangible aspects of public policy (the recognition of the bureaucratic structures through which their treatment is institutionalized, the state’s interpretation of needs, eligibility criteria, and the definition of what constitutes public assistance). Finally, we seek to reconstruct public disputes and controversies surrounding social needs, public assistance, and related issues (merit criteria, rights, among others).

“Care on the Public Agenda: Agencies, Actors, and Mechanisms” (Biennial Research and Development Projects – Research and Development Secretariat of the University of Tres de Febrero (PID-2023-2024))

Director: Carla Zibecchi
This project seeks to analyze how care entered the public agenda. On the one hand, it proposes to study how care became a governance issue, considering expert knowledge, moral criteria, and state definitions, as well as the actors who participated in this process. Furthermore, it will analyze the place of care in the design of specific policies and regulations for its treatment, as well as the degree of institutionalization within the state structure. On the other hand, it describes community-based care experiences and the ways in which state and non-state actors mediate and interpret the care needs of the populations they serve.

"Spiritual Transformations and Public Policies: A Study of Elective Affinity in Four Areas of Public Intervention at the National Level between 2003 and 2019" (PIP 2021-2023 GI 11220200101961CO) - Center for Labor Studies and Research-CEIL/CONICET

As various sociological studies on public policies have demonstrated, these are not simply decisions made by a group of officials. On the contrary, they involve diverse types of agents, ranging from those responsible for managing the policies themselves to experts, academics, grassroots bureaucrats, community and party leaders, and religious leaders, among others. This heterogeneity dilutes the notion of a single, univocal rationality. Insofar as each individual, group, or organization possesses its own cognitive maps, there is also a dimension linked to the collective representations at play. Furthermore, public policies cannot be reduced to decisions exclusively tied to one or another department: In this sense, the term “areas of public intervention” allows us to reconstruct a network of initiatives involving different ministries, secretariats, or offices, highlighting the complexity of this network. Bearing these arguments in mind, this project proposes to link transformations in the realm of collective representations—religions being a privileged angle for these issues, although they do not exhaust the spectrum—with different areas of public intervention that largely express these changes: social policies focused on promoting individual transformation, measures aimed at addressing caregiving issues, the promotion of entrepreneurship, and the field of corporate social responsibility.

"Morality and Public Policies. An Elective Affinity Study in Three Areas of Public Intervention at the Provincial Level between 2007 and the Present" (CAI+D 2025-2027) - Based at FHUC/UNL

As various sociological studies on public policies have demonstrated, these are not simply decisions made by a group of officials. On the contrary, they involve diverse types of agents, ranging from those responsible for managing the policies themselves to experts, academics, grassroots bureaucrats, community and party leaders, and religious leaders, among others. This heterogeneity dilutes the notion of a single, univocal rationality. Insofar as each individual, group, or organization possesses its own cognitive maps, there is also a dimension linked to the collective representations at play. Likewise, public policies cannot be reduced to decisions exclusively linked to one or another department. In this sense, the term areas of public intervention” allows us to reconstruct a network of initiatives involving different ministries, secretariats, or offices; rescuing the complexity of the plot.Taking these arguments into account, in the present project we propose to link transformations in the plane of collective representations – religions being a privileged angle for these issues, although they do not exhaust the spectrum – with different areas of public intervention that largely express these changes: social policies focused on the individual, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the field of corporate social responsibility.

“Representations, Associative Fabric, and Public Policy Networks: The Religious Factor and Care Policies” (Strategic Development Project 2020-2021)

Director: Luis Donatello
Co-director: Francisco García Chicote
This was a technology transfer project whose counterparts were the Ministry of Social Development—including contributions from the National Secretariat of Religious Affairs, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship—within the Interministerial Roundtable on Care Policies. As a technology transfer outcome, a database of social organizations was developed, establishing a series of classifications related to care work and socio-religious networks, and a map was created to facilitate its visualization.

Undersecretariat of Policies in Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation. Research Program on Contemporary Argentine Society (PISAC), 2023 Call for Proposals. Beliefs, Bodies and Politics: Redefining the Limits of Democracy in Argentina (Central, Patagonia and Greater Buenos Aires Regions), PISAC 2023-40

Director: Verónica Giménez Béliveau
This project aims to study and compare different forms of political activism surrounding the management of the body and health in relation to transformations in beliefs in contemporary Argentina, through research in the Greater Buenos Aires, Patagonia, and Central regions (2023-2024). The proposal falls within the broader theme of the intersection between beliefs and politics, and formulates a research plan that will address three issues that have generated significant controversies in Argentine society. The debates surrounding decisions about the body and the concept of conception will serve as the central focus of the research. These issues are linked to women’s movements, controversies surrounding vaccine use, and discussions about food and its relationship to the environment. On the one hand, these controversies originated, circulated, and became globalized through specific activism, such as movements surrounding abortion, vaccination, and veganism. In this sense, these themes share common elements, and their comparative analysis will allow us to go beyond understanding each one individually, contributing to the comprehension of structural transformation processes in Argentine society. On the other hand, the relevance of investigating health controversies as a way to identify threats to democracy and hard-won rights is based on recent findings that suggest a link between trends in religious beliefs and political stances regarding rights disputes. The investigation will seek to identify actors and social spaces that manifest the intersections between body, health, rights, and beliefs. To this end, a comparative deployment of collective and multi-sited case studies is planned across the three regions and in the three mobilization axes, with diverse information gathering and analysis techniques.

"National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion, Ministry of Science, Technology, and Productive Innovation. Scientific and Technological Research Project (PICT). 2020 Call for Proposals. Beliefs, Health, and Rights. Social Representations and Political-Religious Activism Regarding the Management of the Body and Health in Argentina (2020–2024) PICT 2020-03410

Principal Investigator: Verónica Giménez Béliveau
The objective of PICT 2020-03410 is to analyze and compare different forms of political and religious activism surrounding the management of health and the body in contemporary Argentina (2020–2024). This objective brings together a series of issues that have been at the center of the concerns and discussions among team members: the influence of religious and spiritual beliefs on representations of the body and health management, as well as the formation of political and politico-religious groups that demand autonomy to decide on the governance of the body and seek to influence legislative debates and the design of public policies.

"Office of Science and Technology, University of Buenos Aires. Scientific and Technological Research Grant Program, 2023 Call for Proposals. Beliefs and Politics. Social Representations and Political-Religious Activism Regarding the Management of the Body and Health in the Greater Buenos Aires Area

UBACyT 20020220300107BA
Principal Investigator: Verónica Giménez Béliveau
The project “Beliefs and Politics. Social Representations and Political-Religious Activism Regarding the Management of the Body and Health in the AMBA” falls within the general theme of the intersection between beliefs, religion, and politics. The research will address a series of issues relevant to contemporary society: debates surrounding decisions about the body and gender linked to women’s movements, controversies over the use of vaccines, and discussions about food and its relationship to the environment. These discussions originated, circulated, and became globalized through specific forms of activism that we aim to analyze.
The chosen themes share common elements, and their comparative analysis will allow us to go beyond the understanding of each one individually, thereby contributing to the comprehension of structural transformation processes in Argentine society.