Abstract
The aim of this study is to describe chronic illness using the example of type 2 diabetes. Firstly, diabetes is comprehended by a medical approach in connection with epidemiology, public health, politics and economy, here referred to as « medical worlds ». These medical worlds belong to the neoliberal ideology which defines the individual as rational. Then, diabetes is perceived by testimonies given by diabetic people, reflecting « real life » with the illness in its social dimension, here referred to as « patient worlds ». Type 2 diabetes, emblem of a chronic condition, is a disease of civilization, of a way of life, which affects individuals in multiple dimensions of their every day life, such as the domestic sphere and food habits. Living with a chronic condition is a common hardship which associates auto control and reflexivity, and which puts in contact patients and medical actors in a repetitive and prolonged manner. This questions the roles of each as defined in Parsons's functionalist theory. For the patients, these interactions are part of the social world; they show how care working is an important concern, particularly during the retirement period. The confrontation of these two worlds help to understand chronic illness, described as the contemporary face of illness. The chronically ill individual allows to make the hypothesis that he is an advanced figure of the contemporary individual. This work outlines a care logic, which is close to care theories.