The rational, loving and responsible parent. A discursive construction of the identities of the parents that decided not to vaccinate their children

Abstract

My objective in this article is to identify what types of identities are constructed and claimed in the context of sociological interviews taken from parents who have decided not to vaccinate at least one of their children. Analyzing the interviews taken, I managed to show that one of the most prominent identities displayed and claimed in the interviews was that of the loving, responsible and rational parent. This constructive identity was based on several interpretative sub-repertoires such as: the transition from the ignorant and credulous parent to the knowing parent repertoire, the responsible and loving parent repertoire, the balanced medical decisions repertoire, the proper documentation repertoire, disclaimer of any anti vaccine militancy repertoire, rejecting any risk out of love repertoire. I concluded that this type of identity construction constitutes a restorative repertoire through which the parents try to regain the identity of the rational, responsible and loving parent and consequently reclaiming the uncontestable right of decision regarding their own children.

Keywords

• discourse analysis
• interpretative repertoires
• identities
• immunization
• vaccine hesitancy
• anti-vaccination