According to the National Cancer Institute (INCA), cancer is the name given to a group of more than 100 diseases whose common factor is the disorganised growth of cells that invade and destroy tissues and organs and can spread to other parts of the body. With the advent of new technologies for the early detection of these neoplasms and the growing development of control and prevention policies, the survival rate of cancer patients has increased considerably.

In view of this, the aim of this study was to identify the processes of subjectivisation in the lives of people who have experienced falling ill with cancer, based on the social representations that the interviewees had of the disease. Based on the premise that social representations are present both in the world and in the minds of the subjects, it is important to understand that the way society and individuals represent and signify cancer is directly related to the way they deal with this disease, as well as with the process of becoming ill, and that these representations are closely linked to the processes of subjectivation of each subject and of the subjects in their collectivity.

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