Bringing Elites Sociology Back in European Integration Theories: A Case Study Based on Commissioners and Directors General

Founded on an analysis of biographies and carriers of top‐rank officials and members of the European Commission, this paper suggest that a lot of recent polemic within the EU Institutions (such as Verheugen controversy, Kinnock reform, etc.) are the expressions of the tensions originating from socio‐morphological transformations. To put it simply, the gap between the members and the officials of the Commission has never been so wide on this score. Commissioners seem to be gaining in political capitals to the detriment of a professional commitment in European politics, which implies for example a minimum degree of attendance in the political space of the EU or the accumulation of capitals relating to this space. Conversely, the top‐level officials increasingly appear to owe their positions to long‐term investment in institutions involving the production and, simultaneously, the accumulation of European capitals, a general tendency whereof the meaning is precisely questioned within the conjuncture of the Kinnock reform and more widely that of the political issues which characterised the mid 2000s. Beyond the conventional issue of the differentiation or de‐differentiation processes of the political and administrative elites, this approach enables to underline the unique relationship between these staff categories in the case of the EU and to point out, to a greater extent, an opposition between temporary and intermittent staff which seems to be a correct indicator of inequal objectivation process of the European institutions

Yanis (Varoufakis), the Minotaur, and the Field of Eurocracy

This paper aims to show the binding force within the social field of Eurocracy and, more specifically, the subfield of the European economic governance, through the singular case of Yanis Varoufakis's experience as Greek minister of finance. Why is it that, while many elements might have suggested that Varoufakis was not lacking resources, his passage from economics into politics ended up in a fairly brutal shock and a mutual exclusion so extremely invested in on the symbolic level? The paper's hypothesis is that a substantial part of the strategies of the epistemic agent Varoufakis - an experienced economist as well as new ruler and new politician in the EU game - were completely out of tune with the structure of the field. To show this, the paper deliberately breaks with the causal analysis of the bargain inside the Eurogroup to build on the use of two multiple correspondence analyses (MCA). The first describes a view of (and from) the silent fraction of the field, composed of insiders in the European administrations. The second reconstructs Varoufakis's own relational position and vision of the game from the book he wrote on his experience. Thanks to these two approaches, we combine a descriptive-institutional and a narrative-individual construction of the same social space to explore its deep structure and effects in an innovative way

La démission de la Commission européenne : scandale et tournant institutionnel (octobre 1998 - mars 1999)

Pour en restituer très brièvement le développement chronologique, les scandales à la Commission européenne ont pour origine un ensemble de malversations dénoncées dans la presse belge en août 1998. À la suite de ces révélations, le scandale a peu à peu pris forme dans la presse puis au Parlement. Ce dernier dépose une motion de censure finalement rejetée mi-janvier, mais, à cette date, est désigné un comité des sages pour éclairer les affaires. Rendu le 15 mars, son rapport met en cause Edith..

Historical and political sociology of the EU: What's new in France? GSPE Working Paper 01/05/2009

This article provides an overview of the hundred or so papers in historical and political sociology of the EU published in France over the last two years (particularly around the sociology of knowledge and sociology of trajectories and positions of the social agents and groups who make up the European political space), and analyses some of their contributions to the international debate, focusing notably on the central political and institutional space of the EU

Le champ administratif européen : acteurs et instruments

International audienc

Un prophète construit par ses censeurs ? Bernard Cathelat et ses «socio-styles», entre controverse et succès

A prophet constructed by his censors. Bernard Cathelat and the «Socio-Styles», between controversy and success. Didier Georgagakis. [159-174]. Nothing seemed to indicate, to begin with, that Bernard Cathelat would become the multipositioned agent he turned out to be. However, by intervening with ail his energy in a multiplicity of spaces, the creator of the «Socio-Styles» triggered off a series of controversies which seem to have boosted his career. The case by case observation of the variety of fields thus invested allows one to determine the benefits he is able to derive from such controversies. The efficiency of such differential benefits is strongest in the media field. It thus seems that Bernard Cathelat's «character» is being contructed by other people, which implies a number of constraints.Un prophète construit par ses censeurs ? Bernard Cathelat et les «socio-styles», entre controverse et succès. Didier Georgagakis. [159-174]. Rien n'indiquait au départ que Bernard Cathelat deviendrait l'agent multipositionné qu'il est aujourd'hui. En intervenant corps et bien sur des espaces multiples, l'inventeur des «socio-styles» a cependant déclenché une succession de controverses qui semblent avoir favorisé son ascension. Prendre appui sur la diversité des espaces ainsi investis permet de préciser au cas par cas les profits qu'il tire de ces controverses. Ces profits différenciés trouvent leur «plein rendement» dans l'espace médiatique. Le personnage de Bernard Cathelat apparaît ainsi constuit par les autres, ce qui implique un certain nombre de contraintes.Georgagakis Didier. Un prophète construit par ses censeurs ? Bernard Cathelat et ses «socio-styles», entre controverse et succès. In: Politix, vol. 5, n°19, Troisième trimestre 1992. L'activité journalistique, sous la direction de Sylvain Bourmeau, Dominique Cardon et Jean-Baptiste Legavre. pp. 159-174

Une science en décalage ? Genèses et usages des «socio-styles» du Centre de communication avancée (1972-1990)

A Science out of Step? The Origins and Uses of "Socio-Styles" by the Advanced Communication Centre Among the many classifications of social groups that private research centres produced in the 1970's and 1980's, the "socio-styles" developed by Bernard Cathelat and the Centre for Advanced Communication was the most widely circulated and set off the most lively controversies. It was claimed that this approach was based on the invention of "original" categories distinctive from those used by Insee and academic sociology. This article analyses the positions and trajectories of "socio-style" authors in the various fields of social recognition where they were always "out of step". Turning this situation to their advantage, they ensured the success of their classification system which ultimately appeared to be the combined result of an ability to take advantage of a "crisis of representation" that produced it and in which it was one of the players.■ Didier Georgakakis: Une science en décalage ? Genèses et usages des «socio-styles» du Centre de communication avancée Parmi les nombreux classements sociaux produits dans les sociétés d'études privées pendant les années 1970 et 1980, celui par «socio-styles» de Bernard Cathelat et du Centre de communication avancée (CCA) est celui qui a bénéficié de la plus grande diffusion et suscité les plus vives polémiques. D revendique une démarche fondée sur l'invention de catégories «originales», en rupture avec celles de l'INSEE et de la sociologie universitaire. L'article analyse les positions et trajectoires des auteurs des «socio-styles» dans différents espaces sociaux de reconnaissance où ils se trouvent toujours « en décalage ». Transformant cette situation en ressource, ils assurent à leur classement un succès qui apparaît, en définitive, comme résultant d'une capacité à bénéficier d'une «crise de la représentation» dont il est le produit et l'un des opérateurs.Georgakakis Didier. Une science en décalage ? Genèses et usages des «socio-styles» du Centre de communication avancée (1972-1990). In: Genèses, 29, 1997. Sciences sociales improbables, sous la direction de Jean Leroy. pp. 51-74

European Integration

International audienc

Les conseils en actes

Georgakakis Didier. Les conseils en actes. In: Quaderni, n°20, Printemps 1993. Entreprise et communication : dysfonctionnements. pp. 144-146

Where have all the lawyers gone? Structure and transformations of the top European Commission officials’ legal training

This paper was originally presented at the Conference “The European Legal Field-Le champ juridique européen” organized by Bruno de Witte and Antoine Vauchez with the Robert Schuman Centre and the Academy of European Law (European University Institute, 25-26 September 2008).Founded on a prosopographical analysis of the European Commission¹s top civil servants, this paper gathers data in order to contribute to the analysis of the European legal capital in two ways. First, we show that while jurists (i.e. agents for whom law was the main element of their training) integrated the European Commission administration very early on, and acquired dominant positions, they were strong only insofar as their legal training was the basis of a broader undertaking of construction and acquisition of a more general bureaucratic capital. Secondly, we demonstrate that this ability to hold dominant positions within the machine tends to be increasingly contested with the rise of other agents, especially economists, whose properties tend to become indispensable for a high level career within the European Commission