The paradoxical normalization of aids.

The exceptional mobilization of the developed democracies confronted with a ids ended in normalization. The aim of this article is to report, to discri minate between the causes and the consequences of the end of the exceptiona l status which have been characteristic of the public replies and social re actions towards aids since 1985. Normalization is described and analyzed as the product of a change in the perception of risk. Whereas mobilization in dicated a social perception of aids as an unacceptable risk normalization s hows acceptability is made possible by the existence of replies, the limite d success of treatment and the reduction of uncertainty. Then results a par adoxical decoupling between the perception of risk and the epidemiological reality, with two consequences : one concerning the individual handling of risk through an upsurge in risky behaviour, confirmed by a high level of re cent contaminations; the other relating to the public handling of aids thro ugh the attempt by those in charge to interpret this social acceptability a s a sign indicating the disappearance of the problem.