Les représentations territoriales du système postal par ses agents et ses clients [Une étude exploratoire

Abstract

This paper describes an exploratory research carried in the south of the Paris region, in the Essonne département, and concerning the relations between the French postal company, La Poste, and the territory. Both users and staff accept the idea that the republican ideal of a spatially strictly homogeneous supply is not sustainable any more. In practice, this republican (socio-political) ideal has long co-existed with two other forms of territorial organization: an industrial form generated by the requirements of postal flows management; an economic form, as services were spatially and socially differenciated. These three forms (socio-political, industrial, economic) are associated with different patterns of territoriality The central issue in the regulation of the postal system lies in making these territorial patterns compatible.