From statistical categorizations to ordinary categorizations of social space: history and legacy of an original study based on a card game

This article puts the sociology of quantification invented and promoted by Alain Desrosières into perspective regarding a fruitful but rarely addressed approach in this research stream: the relationships that are built between official (or scholar) classifications and ordinary categorizations of the social space. In order to achieve this, the article first sheds light on the history of an innovative study designed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot, a study which aimed to put ordinary people in the position to produce their own classification of the social space on the basis of a “card game.” In a second step, we aim to compare and analyze the later uses of this study in France and abroad (Germany, Chile and Switzerland). Beyond differences due to each study’s design and theoretical background, every study’s collected ranking clearly depicts hierarchical social structures, even though those rankings show some variations which rely on the kind of information indicated on each card games, national contexts and respondents’ dispositions

Le sentiment de discrimination des représentants du personnel

Alors que les travaux sur la discrimination syndicale se sont essentiellement intéressés à l’objectivation des pénalités salariales subies par les syndicalistes, que ce soit devant les tribunaux ou dans les données statistiques, cet article s’intéresse aux ressorts sociaux du sentiment de discrimination. En s’appuyant sur les données de l’enquête Relations professionnelles et négociations d’entreprise (REPONSE) et sur trois monographies, il analyse les conditions qui font varier cette perception des risques liés à l’engagement syndical, en montrant notamment qu’il est plus prononcé dans les grands établissements, là où les relations professionnelles sont les plus institutionnalisées. La perception de cette discrimination s’active ainsi au croisement de quatre types de rapports sociaux : le rapport des syndicalistes aux autres salariés ; leur rapport aux directions d’entreprise, marqué par l’état des relations sociales et rapports de force avec les dirigeants ; leur rapport au droit et, plus largement, à la notion de discrimination ; et, enfin, le rapport des syndicalistes entre eux, par l’intermédiaire des pratiques distinctives entre syndicats et/ou syndicalistes selon leurs positions et leurs trajectoires militantes.While work on union discrimination is primarily interested in the objectification of penalties suffered by trade unionists, whether in court or in the statistical data, this article focuses on the determinants of the feeling of discrimination among trade unionists. Based on the data from the survey REPONSE and three monographs, it analyzes the conditions which produce different perceptions of risks associated with trade union involvement. We show that this feeling is strongest in large firms where industrial relations are more institutionalized. The perception of discrimination is triggered by the interaction of four types of social relations: The relation of unionists to other employees, their relationship with company management, determined by the power relations with employers, their relation to law and, more broadly, to the concept of discrimination and finally, the relations between trade unions, through distinctive practices between unions and/or between unionists according to their position and militant trajectories

There and back again: bridging meso- and nanoscales to understand lipid vesicle patterning

We describe a complete methodology to bridge the scales between nanoscale Molecular Dynamics and (micrometer) mesoscale Monte Carlo simulations in lipid membranes and vesicles undergoing phase separation, in which curving molecular species are furthermore embedded. To go from the molecular to the mesoscale, we notably appeal to physical renormalization arguments enabling us to rigorously infer the mesoscale interaction parameters from its molecular counterpart. We also explain how to deal with the physical timescales at stake at the mesoscale. Simulating the so-obtained mesoscale system enables us to equilibrate the long wavelengths of the vesicles of interest, up to the vesicle size. Conversely, we then backmap from the meso- to the nano- scale, which enables us to equilibrate in turn the short wavelengths down to the molecular length-scales. By applying our approach to the specific situation of the patterning of a vesicle membrane, we show that macroscopic membranes can thus be equilibrated at all length-scales in achievable computational time offering an original strategy to address the fundamental challenge of time scale in simulations of large bio-membrane systems

The measurement of social stratification : comparative perspectives between Europe and Latin America

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004This chapter analyses compared social stratification in three Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) and four European countries (Finland, France, Spain, Great Britain). We focus on both external and internal borders of social classes, as well as on the challenges posed by their analysis for sociology. We compare social classes using EGP6 in relation to a variety of social indicators, to examine how social classes vary among countries. We include debates on production models and welfare state policies to understand the specific configurations and compare the conditions of some of the INCASI countries regarding social stratification. Lastly, we apply a latent class analysis to validate the number of social classes and to recognise class boundaries

Sur l’État. Cours au Collège de France, 1989-1992, P. Bourdieu. Le Seuil et Raisons d’agir, Paris (2012). 672 p.

Cet ouvrage posthume de Pierre Bourdieu expose la manière dont il a théorisé et conceptualisé la question de l’État. Il est construit autour de la transcription de vingt trois leçons délivrées au Collège de France entre 1989 et 1992. Comme les éditeurs l’indiquent dans leur note introductive, ces cours ont fait l’objet d’un important travail de mise en forme (sections, titres, intertitres, index thématique, etc.), de contextualisation et de mise en perspective (notes des éditeurs, compléments..

Mike Savage, The Return of Inequality: Social change and the weight of the past

Après la célèbre enquête The Great British Survey Class réalisée en partenariat avec la BBC en 2011, cet ouvrage du sociologue britannique Mike Savage, professeur à la London School of Economics, constitue un parcours de lecture, riche et stimulant, des travaux les plus récents sur les inégalités dans le monde. Il synthétise les apports respectifs des principales recherches contemporaines en économie, en sociologie, dont les siennes et celles de son équipe, et en science politique, en balayan..

Mesure des conflits, conflits de mesure. Retour sur l'histoire des outils de quantification des grèves

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Contester les chiffres du chômage en France. Conditions et limites d’une cause statistique et militante

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