Political analysis in health: synthesis of theoretical-methodological approaches

Abstract

The study sought to objectify, through an integrative review, at national and international level, carried out between 2012 and 2017, the set of theoretical-methodological approaches for political analysis in  health, analyzing tendencies of the production of  research with respect to the theoretical- methodological construction. The synthesis identified  a heterogeneous set of authors and theoretical  approaches; objects of study; research strategies and  aspects concerning the exercise of reflexivity in the  production of knowledge. Most of the work is from  collective health, supported by theories of sociological matrices and political sciences, such as studies on the  genesis of Bourdieu’s perspective policies and studies  based on historical institutionalism. The empirical  studies use as a research strategy the combination of  documentary analysis with interviews of key  informants, mostly. Few authors make a reflexive  return on their theoretical position in front of the  other positions within the production space of the political analysis in health. The study may support a  debate that allows analyzing the adequacy, relevance  and scope of the approaches as a way to strengthen  the political analysis in health, considered recent in  Brazil, whose potential for theoretical dialogue needs  to be established between different traditions.