Salir de la economía.

Sin resume

Recent Extensions of the Gift

In this essay, Alain Caillé reconstructs the “singular history of the MAUSS (Anti-Utilitarian Movement in the Social Sciences)” from when in early 1980 a group of friends from different disciplines (sociologists, economists, philosophers, etc.) decided to found the “Bulletin du MAUSS” to counter the growing hegemony of utilitarianism and economism in the human sciences and in the philosophical disciplines themselves. The Bulletin would initially become the “Revue du MAUSS trimestrielle” from 1988 to 1992 and from 1993 to 2022 the “Revue du MAUSS semestrielle” until its current anglophone extension “MAUSS International”. The author takes Marcel Mauss’ definition of the gift as a “total social fact” and explains that the gift paradigm is a “translation operator” in the sense that it is continuously enriched in interaction with existing discourses. The theoretical operation that Caillé proposes is to explicate Mauss’s discovery by moving from a simple gift paradigm, based on the perspective of simple reciprocity between giver and recipient, to an expanded gift paradigm. In this way, it can dialogue with other paradigms and other currents of thought (theory of recognition, theory of care, theory of human development, etc.). And from here to a conception of the gift as “adonnement”, i.e. the commitment of human subjects to bring something new and unprecedented into the world

Marcel Mauss et le paradigme du don

Pourquoi Marcel Mauss, le neveu mais surtout l’héritier spirituel et institutionnel de Durkheim, n’est-il guère mentionné dans les histoires usuelles de la pensée sociologique alors que, comme Simmel avec qui il a tant de traits en commun, il mériterait d’y figurer au premier rang ? Sans doute parce que son horreur de l’esprit de système et de l’abstraction l’a empêché d’expliciter ses positions théoriques et épistémologiques. Cet article entreprend de les dégager et de montrer comment en liant étroitement la découverte du don (la triple obligation de donner, recevoir et rendre) et celle de la puissance du symbolisme, elle dessine les contours d’un tiers paradigme, seul à même d’échapper aux impasses respectives du holisme et de l’individualisme méthodologiques.How is it that Marcel Mauss, Durkheim’s nephew but above all his spiritual and institutional heir, is hardly ever mentioned in the standard histories of sociological thought whereas, like Simmel with whom he has so much in common, he should be ranked among the greatest? Probably because his horror of the spirit of systems and abstractions prevented him from explaining his theoretical and epistemological stands. This paper sets out to reveal them and to show how, by closely linking the discovery of the gift (the triple obligation of giving-receiving and returning) and that of the power of symbolism, the outlines of a third paradigm are traced, the only one to avoid the respective impasses of holism and methodological individualism.¿Por qué Marcel Mauss, el sobrino pero sobre todo el heredero espiritual e institucional de Durkheim es apenas mencionado en las historias usuales del pensamiento sociológico mientras que, como Simmel con el que tiene tantas características en común, merecería figurar en primera fila? Sin duda porque su horror del espíritu de sistema y de la abstracción le ha impedido aclarar sus posiciones teóricas y epistemólogicas. Este artículo comienza a despejarlos y a mostrar cómo al vincular estrechamente el descubrimiento del don (la triple obligación de dar-recibir y devolver) y éste de la potencia del simbolismo, ella dibuja los contornos de un tercer paradigma, sólo a condición de escapar a los respectivos impases del holismo y del individualismo metodológico

Collective Molecular Dynamics in Proteins and Membranes

The understanding of dynamics and functioning of biological membranes and in particular of membrane embedded proteins is one of the most fundamental problems and challenges in modern biology and biophysics. In particular the impact of membrane composition and properties and of structure and dynamics of the surrounding hydration water on protein function is an upcoming hot topic, which can be addressed by modern experimental and computational techniques. Correlated molecular motions might play a crucial role for the understanding of, for instance, transport processes and elastic properties, and might be relevant for protein function. Experimentally that involves determining dispersion relations for the different molecular components, i.e., the length scale dependent excitation frequencies and relaxation rates. Only very few experimental techniques can access dynamical properties in biological materials on the nanometer scale, and resolve dynamics of lipid molecules, hydration water molecules and proteins and the interaction between them. In this context, inelastic neutron scattering turned out to be a very powerful tool to study dynamics and interactions in biomolecular materials up to relevant nanosecond time scales and down to the nanometer length scale. We review and discuss inelastic neutron scattering experiments to study membrane elasticity and protein-protein interactions of membrane embedded proteins

Un projet de recherche exempté d’évaluation éthique : une suggestion de clarification sur le processus d’évaluation éthique

Lettre à l'éditeur / Letter to the EditorCe texte suggère une clarification au sujet de l’application du texte de l’ÉPTC2 pour l’évaluation éthique en réponse au cas d’un projet de recherche qui a été exempté d’approbation par le comité d’éthique de la recherche de l’établissement.This letter proposes a clarification regarding the use of the TCPS2 for ethics review in response to the exemption from review of a specific research proposal by the research ethics board of the organisation

Thermal Fluctuations in a Lamellar Phase of a Binary Amphiphile-Solvent Mixture: A Molecular Dynamics Study

We investigate thermal fluctuations in a smectic A phase of an amphiphile-solvent mixture with molecular dynamics simulations. We use an idealized model system, where solvent particles are represented by simple beads, and amphiphiles by bead-and-spring tetramers. At a solvent bead fraction of 20 % and sufficiently low temperature, the amphiphiles self-assemble into a highly oriented lamellar phase. Our study aims at comparing the structure of this phase with the predictions of the elastic theory of thermally fluctuating fluid membrane stacks [Lei et al., J. Phys. II 5, 1155 (1995)]. We suggest a method which permits to calculate the bending rigidity and compressibility modulus of the lamellar stack from the simulation data. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the theory

Regards croisés sur l’évolution du déficit démocratique au Québec

De la volonté de rompre avec la démocratie libérale bourgeoise jusqu’au souhait de la voir enrichie par d’autres formes, la conception des maux et remèdes de la démocratie québécoise s’est transformée entre 1981 et 2004 selon la conjoncture sociopolitique. Dans cet article, nous examinons 25 thèses signées par des militants, des journalistes et des universitaires en fonction de trois grandes sphères d’exercice de la démocratie : les mécanismes électifs et représentatifs, les mécanismes consultatifs et participatifs ainsi que la citoyenneté sociale. Le déficit démocratique constaté affecte tant la souveraineté populaire que la souveraineté nationale et appelle le renforcement à la fois du pouvoir des citoyens et de celui de leurs représentants.From the desire to break with bourgeois liberal democracy to the wish to have it enriched through different forms, the conception of the ills suffered by Québec democracy and how to remedy them underwent transformation between 1981 and 2004, depending on the sociopolitical situation. This paper examines 25 theses put forward by activists, journalists and academics focusing on three main spheres of the exercise of democracy: mechanisms of election and representation, consultation and participatory mechanisms, and social citizenship. The democratic deficit observed affects both popular sovereignty and national sovereignty, and demands that the power of both citizens and their representatives be strengthened

Smectic order, pinning, and phase transition in a smectic liquid crystal cell with a random substrate

We study smectic-liquid-crystal order in a cell with a heterogeneous substrate imposing surface random positional and orientational pinnings. Proposing a minimal random elastic model, we demonstrate that, for a thick cell, the smectic state without a rubbed substrate is always unstable at long scales and, for weak random pinning, is replaced by a smectic glass state. We compute the statistics of the associated substrate-driven distortions and the characteristic smectic domain size on the heterogeneous substrate and in the bulk. We find that for weak disorder, the system exhibits a three-dimensional temperature-controlled phase transition between a weakly and strongly pinned smectic glass states akin to the Cardy-Ostlund phase transition. We explore experimental implications of the predicted phenomenology and suggest that it provides a plausible explanation for the experimental observations on polarized light microscopy and x-ray scattering.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figures, Published in PRE, with minor typos correcte

Relative Chirality Of Octupolar Columns In A Triangular Array

The relative chirality of helical columns of planar disks having threefold symmetry,is studied using a model Hamiltonian derived from symmetry arguments that describe low-order octupole interactions. The columns are assumed to pack in a triangular array perpendicular to the columnar axes. Ground-state and finite-temperature mean-field phase diagrams are obtained as functions of interaction parameters. Due to the structure of the disks, there appears a term in the Hamiltonian that is not present for systems with lower internal symmetry, such as classical spin systems. This interaction is responsible for the stabilization of phases in which one third of the columns have a chirality opposite to the others. Such a phase has been observed in the discotic liquid crystal hexa-hexylthiotriphenylene