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Zulato, E., Montali, L. & Castro, P. (2023). Regulating liminality: Making sense of the vegetative state and defining the limits of end-of-life action. British Journal of Social Psychology. 62 (4), 1733-1752

E. Zulato et al.,  "Regulating liminality: Making sense of the vegetative state and defining the limits of end-of-life action", in British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 1733-1752, 2023

@article{zulato2023_1715947514870,
	author = "Zulato, E. and Montali, L. and Castro, P.",
	title = "Regulating liminality: Making sense of the vegetative state and defining the limits of end-of-life action",
	journal = "British Journal of Social Psychology",
	year = "2023",
	volume = "62",
	number = "4",
	doi = "10.1111/bjso.12653",
	pages = "1733-1752",
	url = "https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/20448309/2023/62/4"
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Regulating liminality: Making sense of the vegetative state and defining the limits of end-of-life action
T2  - British Journal of Social Psychology
VL  - 62
IS  - 4
AU  - Zulato, E.
AU  - Montali, L.
AU  - Castro, P.
PY  - 2023
SP  - 1733-1752
SN  - 0144-6665
DO  - 10.1111/bjso.12653
UR  - https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/20448309/2023/62/4
AB  - Persistently alive but unaware, vegetative state patients are stuck in the transition between life and death – that is, in a liminal hotspot. This condition raises complex ethical and legal dilemmas concerning end-of-life action. Drawing on social representations (SRs) and the liminality framework, our research investigated how the vegetative state was constructed within the Italian parliamentary debates discussing end-of-life bills (2009–2017). We aimed to understand (1) how political groups represented the vegetative state, (2) how they legitimised different end-of-life bills and (3) came to terms with the issue of liminal hotspots. By dialogically analysing three debates (No. of interventions = 98), we identified six themes and discursive aims allowing parliamentarians to differently represent the vegetative state and support different courses of action. In turn, we identified new features of the psycho-social processes generating SRs: the dialogical tensions between anchoring and de-anchoring. Results corroborated the idea that de-paradoxifying liminality relies on group sense-making and, thus, different political leanings differently addressed the liminality of the vegetative state. We also reveal a novel feature of dealing with liminal hotspots informing the psycho-social literature that applies when a decision needs to be taken, such as in the case of crafting a law: moving from the paradox.
ER  -