Books & ideas

Virtuoso Fasting

Zoé Boucherie — 2025-10-30T07:30:00Z

At a time of increasing appeals for moderation and lifestyles more respectful of nature, a new book proposes an original approach: to use the concept of asceticism to grasp practices of voluntary renunciation as a kind of spiritual experience.

The Making of a Sociologist

Emmanuel Kessous — 2025-10-28T09:00:00Z

How is sociology produced today? Drawing on their intersecting career paths, three sociologists reflect on their working conditions and how these affect their scientific output.

A War of Signs

Alexandre Goderniaux — 2025-05-22T07:30:00Z

From 1562 to 1598, as the Wars of Religion deprived France of its reference points, strategies for mastering, disguising, and eliminating religious signs became necessary for survival. External markers of identity provide crucial insight into what civil wars do to a society.

Art for Justice

Raluca Enescu — 2025-05-20T06:05:42Z

International Criminal Court judges process hundreds of pieces of evidence before rendering their verdict. Artwork-tools cut through the maze of data, providing an essential artistic and visual support for the administration of justice.

Sociology's Quest for the Middle Ages

Quentin Verreycken — 2025-04-29T06:30:00Z

Alexis Fontbonne sets out to study the Middle Ages as a sociologist, laying the foundations for a stimulating critical approach that invites us to reconsider not only historical practice, but also the tools of sociology.

Harrison White, the Pioneer of Network Analysis

Alain Degenne & Frédéric Godart & Michel Grossetti — 2025-03-18T08:30:00Z

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 Vagaries of the Judiciary

Rachel Vanneuville — 2024-07-11T12:24:38Z

How can we explain the variations between judicial decisions in criminal matters? Using the method of natural experiment, economist Arnaud Philippe sets out to identify the factors that influence decisions and determine criminal sanctions. At the risk of forgetting sociology?

The Plastic Reality of Capitalism

Fabien Eloire — 2024-03-14T08:04:00Z

Two hundred years after its emergence in the West, capitalism has become a culture in the broad sense, a way of life, and an ideology. It permeates all spheres of society, including work and politics, and insinuates itself in children through education and the family.

Bourdieu by Bourdieu

Jacques Hamel — 2024-02-27T12:43:33Z

Pierre Bourdieu declared that sociology has the power to reflect on itself, and in particular to reflect on its own scientificity. Four rare or previously unpublished texts serve to illustrate this doctrine, the implications of which are still open to debate.

The Social Key to Dreams

Claire Pagès — 2024-02-01T08:00:00Z

The unconscious, according to Bernard Lahire, is “socially structured.” This principle makes possible an individual sociology of dreams that requires—like all psychoanalytic interpretation—the presence of a third party to grasp the forces bearing down on the dreaming subject.