The examination of substantive and formal rationalities in the economic activity was the core subject of the analysis of Károly Polányi who found it crucial in his books on the social integrity of the economic activities. In parallel with the economic activity, the twofold rationality of healing can be examined in the same way.

On the basis of Károly Polányi’s work in which he categorised the effects of the economic activities on the process of social integration according to the different rationalities. I worked out a structure of different social integrating forms of healing to apply this structure to examine the embeddedness of healing in the modern European societies and to reveal how much the different integrating forms of healing respect the limitations of nature. This method will also be suitable to analyse the medical activities both in the public (state-controlled) and in the out-of-public (private) institutions in the same and unified categorical system. Moreover, this approach gives us the opportunity to inquire into the empowering communities role in the different healing activities and into the struggle for healing activities between them.

The social integrating forms of healing in the modern European societies are follows: self-therapy, charitable care, local governmental care, private care and state-financed care.

In my presentation, I wish to deal with the question of what extent these integrating forms of healing activities strengthen or weaken the social embeddedness of healing and at what extent they take into consideration or break the autonomy of local communities and the laws of nature.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „The Social Embeddedness of Healing and its Natural Boundaries“ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.