On the practical rationality of the use of homeopathy in the German-speaking social space: An integrated approach using geometric data analysis and regression analysis

Abstract

This article examines the use of homeopathy from the perspective of Bourdieu’s theory of social space and practice. Theoretically, we elaborate that the use of alternative medicine is subject to practical logics that cannot be reduced to and are incompatible with a scholastic rationalist logic. However, belief in scientific logic and evidence, like belief in alternative rationalities, is situated in the social space of society itself, which can be involved in societal and political conflicts. To reveal the multiplicity of logic behind the use and non-use of homeopathy we combine multiple correspondence analysis and logistic regression models to analyze the position of the (non-)use of homeopathy in the social space and its relation to additional societal, political, and health-related factors. With survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS round 7, 2014) for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, we show how the (non-)use of homeopathy and the different rationalities and societal antagonisms involved are structured by this transnational space but that certain sociodemographic factors produce effects beyond this social space.