Chabrol Fanny auteur aut IRD David P. M. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Resilience has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic as a rallying motto, with calls by governments for a resilient society, resilient families and schools, and, of course, resilient healthcare systems in the face of this unprecedented pandemic shock. Resilience had already gained traction as an analytical concept in public health research for approximately a decade. It became a key concept despite the recognition of its lack of conceptual consistency. The COVID-19 pandemic presented itself as a perfect test-case and encouraged a multiplicity of studies on resilience and health care systems. In this commentary, we add to the existing critiques of resilience in the social sciences by reflecting on the effects of resilience when used to frame empirical inquiries and to draw lessons from the crisis. Resilience as a concept is unable to address crucial structural issues that health systems already faced throughout the world, and it remains a non-neutral political notion. We argue that we need to resist a generalised view of resilience and work with alternative imaginaries. specialized Resilience public health social sciences COVID-19 adaptation 056 18 1 2212750 [9 ] 2023 1744-1692 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010087758 10.1080/17441692.2023.2212750 1744-1692 [F B010087758] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010087758 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2023-07/010087758.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2023-07-06 2025-02-24 fdi:010087758 fre