French Social Sciences Research Articles

Social science Eurocentrism in the land of universalism: An introduction to French blindness

AbstractFrom the late 18th century onwards, France has delivered a universalistic discourse about politics, society, rights and also science. The emergence of social science largely confirmed this trend. Nowadays the growing challenging of Eurocentrism that has become more and more visible since the early 1990s remains most often untranslated, untaught, uninvestigated and undebated. The disciplinary structure of the university as well as the lingering isolationism of French social science accounts for part of this situation, the latter requires some further explanations. If some opening has recently been visible in the field of gender, race and discriminations, it has usually meant a greater influence of some—White or Black—American anthropologists, sociologist or philosophers, but hardly ever of non‐Western thinkers. The very issue of a social science canon is not even raised. The main reason for this is the weight of French neo‐republicanism as it was born in the early 1990s at the very same time when anti‐Eurocentric alternatives discourses became more widely heard. It results in a persistent denial of these discourses as being scientific and a widespread ignorance of them in the academic field.

‘But we’re among peers!’

Abstract Focusing on French social science and humanities journals, this article examines the digital communication surrounding the submission of articles by scholars based in Africa. Using Cameron’s concept of verbal hygiene ([1995] 2012), I analyze the case of negative reactions from editors triggered by stylistic and rhetorical features related to politeness. Through a detailed case study, the paper shows that such negative reactions involve semiotic processes of linguistic and social differentiation that articulate the moralized persona of the author and the scientific value of his/her work. However, editors’ verbal hygiene attitudes are also intertwined with political concerns aimed at promoting the inclusion of scholars from the Global South. In that context, the analysis reveals a complex interplay between the desire for openness and structural patterns of exclusion that enact long-standing hierarchies in knowledge production. Drawing on Inoue’s (2003) theory of the listening subject, I argue that this paradox arises from the reader’s particular position within the globalized academic landscape and from the power structures inherent in the circulation of texts between African and French academic contexts.

Ian Merkel, Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences

Ian Merkel, Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences

Lembrar e esquecer em história intelectual: o Brasil e as ciências sociais francesas no século XX

Resenha do livro: MERKEL, Ian. Terms of Exchange: Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Merkel, Ian (2022) Terms of Exchange: Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 285 pp. $35.00 pbk., $105.00 hbk., $34.99 pdf.

Merkel, Ian (2022) Terms of Exchange: Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 285 pp. $35.00 pbk., $105.00 hbk., $34.99 pdf.

Three Versions of Social Science in Late Eighteenth-Century France

The term science sociale was first employed by Mirabeau père in 1767, not Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in 1789, as historians until now believed. Taking this discovery as its starting point, this article examines the ways in which the idea of a science of society was successively conceptualized in the late eighteenth century by Mirabeau, Sieyès, and Nicolas de Condorcet. Situating their ideas in the context of evolving discussions over the reform of the French state, it argues that they developed three different versions of social science, and that these reflected different attempts to answer the question of how to achieve collective prosperity, justice, and happiness under modern conditions. This article further highlights the changing modes of historical temporality that informed those approaches, which shifted from a focus on the social forms of a mythical past, to a concern with the prevailing norms of the present, to an emphasis, finally, on the likely developments of an ever-perfecting future. In doing so, it shows that the history of early French social science is best understood not as a process of gradual advancement, but rather as one of serial reinvention.

‘Enrichment’ as a Pragmatist and Structuralist Contribution to Economic Sociology: Perspectives on the Approach of Economics and Sociology of Conventions

The article discusses main contributions and results of the monograph Enrichment: A Critique of Commodities, written by the French sociologists Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre. Boltanski and Esquerre focus on the strategy to transform ‘the past’ (patrimony, luxury objects, tradition, collections) into new sources of richness. The book focuses on valuation forms and valuation discourses. Enrichment links Boltanski’s work again to the socio-economic movement of the economics and sociology of conventions (in short, EC/SC), which is part of the new French social sciences and regards conventions as logics of valuation and interpretation. This approach of EC/SC is introduced as a frame to evaluate the recombination of pragmatism and structuralism which is proposed by Boltanski and Esquerre. Finally, open questions and desiderata are addressed from the standpoint of EC/SC.

Merkel, Ian. Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences

Merkel, Ian. Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences

Terms of Exchange: Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences by Ian Merckel

Terms of Exchange: Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences by Ian Merckel

Technology: Greek paradigms of a French social science

Cette étude porte sur les contributions d’Alfred Espinas (1844-1922) et de Jean-Pierre Vernant (1914-2007) à la définition de la technologie historique comme science sociale. Appartenant à des générations différentes et mobilisant des cadres théoriques antagonistes (Durkheim et Marx, respectivement), leurs travaux ont en commun le recours au paradigme grec pour fonder notre compréhension de l’agir technique comme fait social. Il s’agira d’analyser les ouvertures et les limites de chacune de ces approches.

Introduction

France is an overwhelmingly majority-White nation. Yet the French majority is reluctant to identify as White, and French social science has tended to eschew Whiteness as an object of inquiry. Inspired by critical race theory and critical Whiteness studies, this interdisciplinary special issue offers a new look at White identities in France. It does so not to recenter Whiteness by giving it prominence, but to expose and critique White dominance. This introduction examines the global and local dimensions of Whiteness, before identifying three salient dimensions of its French version: the ideology of the race-blind universalist republic; the past and present practice of French colonialism, slavery, and rule across overseas territories; and the racialization of people of Muslim or North African backgrounds as non-White.

УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ ПРОЄКТ КУЛЬТУРАЛЬНИХ СТУДІЙ: АДАПТАЦІЯ ФРАНЦУЗЬКОГО ДОСВІДУ

The purpose of the article is to identify and characterise the differences between the concepts of “cultural”, “culturological” and “culture-based”, as well as to outline the main methods of culture-based studies in modern French social science. The research methodology of the article is based on the application of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to research in the field of culturology. The scientific novelty is to substantiate the appropriateness of applying the term “culture-based studies” to the definition of processes unfolding in the French humanities and associated exclusively with theoretical formations in the context of social sciences and differences from the term “cultural studies”. The concept of “culturebased studies” is introduced into the field of Ukrainian culturology for the first time. Also, for the first time, we have clarified the place and forms for culturology in the French humanities. Conclusions. Working with a source base and methodology is one of the points that are compulsory on the way to solve the tasks, the main of which is the formation of the body of fundamental works for French history (including the history of culture) and historiography of the period since the 1975 year to the present day. On the basis of this body, there is the prospect of building an alternative national culture-based studies project addressed to the vector of the French historiographical, historical-anthropological and cultural-related issues in the field of social knowledge. The article presents the arguments why it is appropriate to use the concept of “culture-based studies” in the context of researching concerning French humanitaristics, in particular, the modern period of its development.

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research known...

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike.” Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research known as LPPR.

Sciences in danger, journals in struggle

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research know...

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research know...

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research known...

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research know...

“Leaving” and “Gathering” of Post-90s Collective Memory in the Age of Media Convergence

The latest media, which is called the “fifth media”, was a only show that brought about changes in the media age once upon a time. But in the modern and contemporary media development, it is leading the media integration upon other types. Traditional newspapers, outdoor media, radio and television known as the four major media are also steadily moving forward with compatibility, reform and innovation. French social science scientist, Halbwachs, first proposed the concept of collective memory. Of course, many elements that constitute and form collective memory can be taken into consideration, while this article only cuts through from the perspective of the media, and hopes that a more positive collective memory framework will be formed. The cultural self-confidence, and explore new methods and outlets for cultural self-confidence.

Why French Academic Journals are Protesting

Since the beginning of 2020, over a hundred academic journals, mostly French human and social sciences publications, have announced that they have “joined the struggle” or that they are “on strike”. Their editorial boards have teamed up with the ongoing social movement protesting the plans to overhaul the country’s pension system, the unemployment benefits reform of November 2019 and the proposals formulated in the reports for the upcoming law for the pluriannual programming of research known...