Active in the fight against poverty since the 1950s, the ATD Fourth World movement has successfully combined grassroots action, research and advocacy, exerting a lasting influence on social policies in France and internationally.
Most banks have now abandoned their previous function of providing advice. Instead, they view their services as products designed to maximize profits. They have started invoking the client’s autonomy as a way of passing on the risk of financial exclusion to their customers. In what ways have bank employees reacted to these new circumstances?
The sociologist Michel Kokoreff takes a fresh look at the controversy aroused by Hugues Lagrange’s book Le déni des cultures. He urges us not to neglect the substance of the debate and analyzes the book’s theses in detail before subjecting them to criticism.
