Biographical Research: Inequality and Innovation

European Sociological Association; This project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic German

Abstracts from ESA 'Education and Citizenship: theoretical issues, policies and practices ' Conference

European Sociological Association: The RN10 Sociology of Education mid-term international conference.Education and Citizenship: theoretical issues, policies and practices 8 -9 September 2014, ISCTE-IUL Lisbon Portugal.

L'influence des recommandations nutritionnelles sur la consommation alimentaire : certaines différences sociales

International audienc

From a grandfather butcher to a vegetarian granddaughter: The importance of primary socialisation in the adoption of "green" practices in mobility and food

What is the role of primary socialisation in the adoption of more sustainable practices? The objective of this contribution is to observe the evolution of consumption practices across three generations. Based on an original methodology using family trees of practices related to mobility and alimentation, this analysis includes 24 in-depth interviews: 11 with parents and 13 with young adults who have already left the parental home. The interviews involve eight families in which at least one interview with a young adult and one interview with a parent were collected in 2017-18. The theoretical framework of this research mainly draws on social practice theories (Schatzki, 1996; Reckwitz, 2002; Shove et al. 2012). To discuss these issues, the concepts of "reversed socialisation" (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and "compartmentalisation" (Halkier 2001; Bartiaux 2008) as well as the effects of age, cohort, and period (Wunsch & Termote, 1978) borrowed from demography are used to better understand the role of the primary socialisation in the adoption of sustainable practices

Tenacious Past and Controversial Reputation of Tito: Persistent Collective Memories in Times of Change

Social upheavals are often followed by reinterpretations of the past by new political elites. However, in opposition to "invention of tradition" framework which focuses on political elites' instrumental reinterpretations, many collective memory scholars also emphasize factors constraining malleability of the past and the role of non-elite memory entrepreneurs. Within the latter theoretical framework, the present study examines how cultural interpretations remain persistent despite changed social conditions and different stakeholders in positions of power. This study uses textual analysis of Croatian newspapers and textbooks in post-Yugoslav period (1991-2007), complemented with interviews with two young Croatian generations, to examine persistent positive historical reputation of the late Yugoslav president Tito. As positive evaluations of Tito endured amidst generally negative reevaluations of the Croatian communist past, this case allows identifying conditions for malleability or persistence of collective memory during times of social and cultural change. These conditions also contributed to a successful institutionalization of Tito in Croatian public discourse, which other Yugoslavia-related commemorations failed to achieve. Both the persistence of Tito’s reputation and his successful post-Yugoslav institutionalization can be traced to interaction of three factors: the well-timed activities of Tito’s non-elite reputational entrepreneurs, dramatic and plural character of Tito’s interpretations and cultural salience of Yugoslav institutionalizations of Tito. The findings of this study illuminate the process of cultural change/persistence during times of social and institutional transformations

European institutions: a new type of communication for a new era? How Facebook and Twitter have been integrated into communication and media activities. The case of the Members of the European Parliament

While social media have been celebrated by the European institutions as tools to get closer to citizens, it is important to assess how their members, politicians and civil servants, have been using them in a context of political tumult. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative research, started in 2009 on the use of social network sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, by European institutions as well as political actors, this communication will focus on media practices both by Members of the European Parliament and journalists covering the EU institutions in Brussels. In doing so, it will contribute to the second stream of the Call for Papers, “communicating the new era”, in order to understand how the use of social media has been incorporated into work practices and whether this has brought some change in the relationships between politicians and journalists, and to a lesser extent between politicians and their various audiences (party members, activists, citizens, opponents, etc.). It will also question the place that social networks sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have taken in the media ecosystem, analyzing trainings provided by the two companies to Members of the European Parliament. The theoretical approach builds on sociology of use with an interactionist and constructivist perspective to allow for a rigorous and contextual analysis of communication and media practices by politicians and journalists. To do so, the research triangulates different types of methods, i.e. participant observation, semi­directed interviews and discursive analysis of published messages

Competing insulation practices in a capitalist economy

This contribution is intended to explore the potentialities of social practice theories for presenting and discussing the description of ‘real-world’ practices performed or not in the retrofit market, either by professionals and by contractors, by homeowners, and by administrative agents and by policy makers. This qualitative research is mainly focused on the insulation market and its evolution in recent years in Wallonia. The empirical material analysed here consists of in-depth interviews with professionals and contractors. Results of the analysis point to several discordances: between contractors in their definition and corresponding practice about what ‘correct’ insulation is; between institutionalised rules (such as the energy performance certificate) and their implementation. These gaps constrain the practices of the professionals and of the homeowners and contribute to explaining how energy-performance gaps are socially constructed

Between opportunities and inequalities. A qualitative study of the lived experiences of extra-European women with study projects in Belgium

Although formally neutral, migration policies remain gender-based and have different effects on mobile women and men, particularly in the context of family reunification schemes. Indeed, while family reunion procedures account for a significant part of migrations to Belgium, the predominance of women is striking. Moreover, women benefiting from this scheme are placed in particularly vulnerable positions : first, because their right to remain in Belgium depends on the maintenance of their relationship with the person they joined and, second, because they are often confined in their role of spouse and denied any professional ambition or activity. Many of these “dependent” women return to higher education to deal with complicated situations in the host country, reflecting a desire to actively engage in their new environment and regain a certain control over their lives. However, these women can face a number of obstacles in higher education too : a limited recognition of their diplomas, a competition with their family responsibilities, a reluctance from their partner as well as a number of categorizations that – whether experienced as obstacles or opportunities – tend to reduce the singularity and complexity of their situation. Based on preliminary results gathered through an ongoing sociological fieldwork, this contribution aims to give voice to Congolese, Indian and American women who arrived in Belgium under the family reunion program and enrolled into higher education. It aims to analyse the multiple system of inequalities affecting these women’s opportunities in the host country by analysing the interplay between lived experiences and structural constraints

Regulation at work: from Europe to the shop floor. The case of telework in Belgium

In 2002, European social partners signed the European Framework Agreement on Telework with the aim to define general guidelines for the UE 27 countries (Larsen et Andersen, 2007). While some countries transposed the European measures into ‘soft law’, other member states negotiated those measures in terms of regulations, obligations, standard rights and decisions (Eurofound, 2010). A large body of literature questions the effects of ‘multi-level governance’ or of non-legally binding commitments included in EU agreements on national-level social dialogue and on companies (e.g. Ertel et al, 2010; Léonard, 2008; Weber, 2010). However very little is known about the effects of a ‘European autonomous agreement’ on lower levels, and particularly on actual practices on the shop floor (Deakin and Koudiaki, 2008; Prosser, 2011). This paper examines to what extent a European-level agreement affects practices within companies. More precisely, it analyses the diverse social processes by which norms at play are interpreted, re-interpreted, transformed, avoided or simply forgotten (Reynaud, 2004), at different levels where actors interact, from the European level to the shop floor. Our aim is, precisely, to highlight social dynamics that occur from the negotiation of teleworking practices to their effective uses. This, in turn, questions the capacity of macro-level players to set up norms that have efficient impact at work. In terms of empirical work, we draw upon qualitative data (108 interviews) gathered in two companies located in Belgium. Research results highlight local re-regulation of the work activity such as time arrangements, workspaces relocation or work organization