Books & ideas

The antithesis of indifference

Natacha Borgeaud-Garciandía — 2023-10-24T16:41:15Z

Care, which refers both to a kind of work and a social relationship, covers a wide range of realities and often precarious activities. Helena Hirata subjects this polysemic term to piercing and uncompromising sociological scrutiny.

Going postal: An anthropology of postal work in France

Nadège Vezinat — 2023-05-30T13:01:23Z

Nicolas Jounin's undercover immersive fieldwork takes the reader on a postal worker's route, one week before his office was reorganized—when he had only a week's seniority.

A French Touch in the Sociology of Wealth

Nicolas Duvoux — 2021-03-29T07:00:00Z

A French qualitative strand of research opens new paths to understanding wealth accumulation in the post-Piketty era and renews our vision of elite groups and beyond.

The Rising Invisible Majority

Alessandro Arrigoni & Emanuele Ferragina — 2021-03-01T08:00:00Z

A period of political and economic turmoil calls for a new analytical framework to be developed. Drawing upon the tools of social science and fiction, the “Rising Invisible Majority” project examines how the shifts of a long-term political economy rendered a large share of its population ‘invisible'.

Emotions at Work

Lauren A. Rivera — 2020-11-02T08:00:00Z

Are hiring decisions based on objective facts and rational thinking? Contrary to what portrayals of homo economicus suggest, emotion is a fundamental basis of decision-making. This is especially true when it comes to candidate evaluation, as Lauren Rivera shows in her study of the recruitment process in elite professional service firms.

Domination Among the Auditors

Gaëtan Flocco — 2019-11-04T08:00:00Z

How do we account for the “voluntary servitude” that reigns in auditing firms? A survey of their employees shows the cause can be found in the spirit of competition and the cult of elitism.