Books & Ideas is the English-language mirror website of La Vie des Idées, a free online journal which has gained a large readership and established itself in France as a major place for intellectual debate since 2007.
Céline Marty offers an in-depth interpretation and contextualization of André Gorz’s philosophical oeuvre. Through a careful examination of his vision of a society of subjects that are truly autonomous—in work as in life—she sheds light on the coherence and radicalness of this highly original form of ecosocialism.
Jeanne Tsai and Batja Mesquita show how emotions are shaped by cultural logics that orient our relationships and judgments. Their conversation raises a broader question: what does it mean to understand others in culturally plural societies?
How does art acquire commercial value? In this book, two historians concentrate on the “first market” for art, which exists prior to the resale market and speculative strategies. It examines the decisive moment when an artwork leaves the studio, the artist sets their price, and the artwork reaches the public.
Part celebration, part demonstration, the activist carnival has emerged as a form that blends festive traditions and subversive politics. As a strategy for mobilization as well as transgression, carnival blurs the boundary between revolt and theater.
About: Isabelle Dasque, Le pouvoir des femmes de diplomates, XIXe-XXIe siècles, Nouveau Monde Éditions
About: Axelle Brodiez-Dolino, ATD Quart Monde, une histoire transnationale. La lutte contre la pauvreté, d’un bidonville à l’Onu, Presses universitaires de France
About: Sacha Lévy-Bruhl, Le grand renversement de l’État social, Presses universitaires de France
The female silhouette – understood as the body’s visible form and socially perceived appearance – has long been shaped by social norms. In the age of social media, these norms are intensifying, prompting, in response, the rise of so-called “body-positive” movements.
A rumour is circulating in some African countries: the French state is organising penis thefts to offset declining fertility. The rumour, spread by Russian propaganda, has become fake news.
The American sociologist Harrison White made a vital contribution to the development of social network analysis. Besides his work in this field, his theoretical synthesis and his understanding of social formations have influenced a variety of fields such as the sociology of art and economic sociology.
The last year has been extremely tough for Europe as a political idea. The debt crisis, the rise of the radical right, repeated and widespread attacks against immigrants, foreigners, but also the very concept of supranational solidarity have seemed to bring one of the richest regions of the globe to the brink of collapse. Is the situation as hard as it has been made to look? And where should Europe’s efforts first turn to?
Books & Ideas is slowing down for the summer. In the meantime, here is a selection of essays, reviews and interviews published over the past year, exploring the relationship between music and politics.
Historians, sociologists, and social scientists in general have long tried to “think big” and “global.” The rise of Asia in the world economy has stimulated anew this attraction for the macro-level. Books and Ideas proposes to look at some of the most innovative ways this work has been done recently, in the history of ideas, of trade and cultural exchanges, economic convergences and decolonization.
“Do we have the right to make bets on the future of mankind?” Forty-one years after being the first ecologist candidate in a presidential campaign and publishing his manifesto book, René Dumont’s intuitions and warnings have lost little of their relevance.
What distinguishes a blank canvas from an empty frame? A simple object from a readymade? What is this mysterious gap that art digs as it separates from life? Such are the questions posed by Arthur Danto, a major figure of contemporary art theory.
For more than thirty years, Joan Scott has been informing and transforming both our history and the way we write history, while encouraging us to question categories and change our modes of thinking. From class struggle to sex differentiation, sexual emancipation and race, she proposes a critical analysis of Republican rhetoric to undermine naturalized forms of inequality.
Malgré des indicateurs économiques relativement positifs, le gouvernement de Lula risque d’être renversé ce mois-ci par le fils de Bolsonaro. Comment expliquer cette menace ?
Certaines entreprises affichent des valeurs éthiques pour redorer leur image. Mais comment celles-ci sont-elles reçues, appropriées, négociées ou contestées par les salariés ?
L’École de mécanique de la Marine (ESMA) fut l’un des principaux centre clandestins d’enfermement, de torture et d’assassinat de la dictature argentine (1976-1983). Érigé en lieu de mémoire, il est aujourd’hui menacé par un discours révisionniste au plus haut sommet de l’État.
À propos de : Jonathan Thomas, Le Disque politique en France 1929-1939, Presses Universitaires de Rennes
À propos de : Stéphane Beaud, Zinedine Zidane, La Découverte
À propos de : Arezou Azad, The Warehouse of Bamiyan. Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan, Edinburgh University Press
