Why Facts Fail: Rethinking Health Behavior Research Through Structural Analysis

Public health research often frames vaccine hesitancy as a failure of reason or susceptibility to misinformation. This article challenges such accounts by offering a structural and materialist framework rooted in the concept of everydayness. Drawing on critical theory I argue that health beliefs are shaped by an interaction between discourse and structural factors.Rather than viewing alternative health practices as irrational, I show how they can reflect practical responses to structural factors. By tracing how individuals navigate these pressures through moralized wellness logics, I highlight the limits of purely informational interventions. Maintaining public trust requires more than correcting false beliefs, it demands engagement with the structural conditions that shape them. This article offers a theoretical reorientation for more grounded and responsive public health practice.