The Application of Salutogenesis in Politics and Public Policy-Making

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors thoroughly discuss the different possibilities of applying salutogenesis in politics and public policy. Politics is one of the upstream conditions that shape our individual lives as well as our society. Thus, asking about if and how salutogenesis can be applied to this field appears to be a most significant subject in Part IV of the Handbook relating to salutogenesis beyond health. In all of his writing about his model, Aaron Antonovsky emphasised how politics and policies contribute to shaping individual and collective abilities to strengthen salutogenic resources. The authors of this chapter approach this issue from the opposite direction, asking, ‘how can salutogenesis contribute to outlining strategies and structural processes linked to politics and policymaking?' Their creative discussion succeeds in bringing the reader the utility of the salutogenic approach in addressing such issues.