French political science at a turning point

This paper outlines the origins and institutionalization process of French political science since 1945. It sketches the present state of the discipline, and it analyses recent trends that appear almost as a form of ‘de-institutionalization’. Overall, the discipline is quite well entrenched and is independent in terms of recruitment with its own teaching and research branches. However, political scientists suffer from a relative lack of visibility in the public space in comparison with their colleagues from more prominent disciplines. In many fields French political science remains invisible at the international level, though this may change considerably in the years to come. The main element of uncertainty comes from the ongoing reforms, the redefinition of the partnership between universities, the Instituts d'Etudes Politiques and the CNRS, and the way the autonomy of universities will be implemented

Light-irradiation at 700 MPa down to 1.5 K for neutron diffraction

We present a new continuously-loaded high-pressure cell for neutron diffraction made from TiZr 'null-matrix' alloy that combines high mechanical resistance below 100 °C and negligible coherent neutron scattering. This cell operates at a maximum pressure of 700 MPa down to a temperature of 1.5 K. A sapphire optical window allows simultaneous illumination of the sample over the broad wavelength range ~0.4 to almost 5 μm. The pressure is applied with Fluorinert or helium gas to ensure the best possible hydrostatic conditions at cryogenic temperatures

Construção e crítica na nova sociologia francesa Construction and criticism in the new french sociology

Este artigo propõe uma análise comparativa das sociologias de Bourdieu, Boltanski/Thévenot e Latour/Callon. Seguindo uma dialética descendente, das estruturas materiais Bourdieu às alturas ideais de Boltanski e Thévenot e às platitudes de Latour e Callon, o autor expõe em um primeiro tempo o estruturalismo genético de Bourdieu como um pensamento racional e relacional, que estabelece uma prioridade às estruturas. Ele mostra que o desvio objetivista da teoria dos campos e dos habitus tende a esvaziar as capacidades reflexivas de que dispõem os atores e a reduzi-los a simples agentes. Em um segundo momento, o autor mostra que a sociologia da crítica de Boltanski e Thévenot permite retificar ou corrigir a sociologia crítica. Ela introduz, firmemente, as mediações simbólicas que são as Cidades e concebe os Dispositivos como comutadores, que restabelecem o laço com a macrossociologia. Enfim, em um terceiro e último momento, o autor critica a eliminação das estruturas materiais e ideais que configuram a ação para a sociologia dos atores em rede. Ela se fixa nas práticas que performam o mundo, associando os humanos e os não humanos, em um tecido sem costura e sem fim que cobre o mundo.<br>This article considers a comparative analysis of the sociologies of Bourdieu, Boltanski & Thévenot, and Latour & Callon. Following a descending dialectic of the Bourdieu material structures to the ideal heights of Boltanski and Thévenot and to the platitudes of Latour and Callon, the author primarily displays Bourdieu’s genetic structuralism as a rational and relational thinking, which establishes a priority to the structures. He shows that the objectivist deviation of the theory of the fields and habitus tends to empty the reflexive capacities in which the actors are reduced into simple agents. In a second moment, the author shows that the Boltanski’s and Thévenot’s sociology of criticism allows to rectify or to correct the critical sociology. It introduces the symbolic mediations that are the Cities and conceive the Devices as commutators, which reestablish the link with the macrosociology. Finally, the author criticizes the elimination of the material and ideal structures that configure the action for the sociology of the actors in net. The action fixes itself in the practices that perform the world, associating human beings and the not human, in a never-ending fabric that covers the world