Pour une approche critique de la théorie des conventions

Abstract

Quynh Delaunay, Towards a Critical Theory of Conventions ; The theory of conventions is a theoretical attempt to provide a scientific foundation for currents of thought related to methodological individualism. Individuals make decisions in relation to the qualities attached to their condition as beings living in a liberal and democratic society. These qualities are evoked in an axiomatic and paradigmatic form recognizable as corresponding to the neo-classical model. But the individuals find themselves in situations requiring the establishment of mutual accommodation. Such an accommodation is possible because people living together share a set of values (or conventions) in which each recognizes his or her interest. In the multiple positions occupied by an individual, action corresponds to a logical type. The positions of an individual can be called into question at any time. Society functions, thusly, as a constant shifting of existing equilibriums towards new equilibriums. The theory of conventions is designed to be applied to a vast domain marked-out by the social sciences. It is a theory of social order that emphasizes the symbolic at the expense of what is concrete and contradictory.