https://booksandideas.net// 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. en SPIP - www.spip.net https://booksandideas.net/local/cache-vignettes/L144xH68/siteon0-04014.png?1675949311 https://booksandideas.net// 68 144 https://booksandideas.net/Academic-inbreeding-new-estimates https://booksandideas.net/Academic-inbreeding-new-estimates 2026-03-03T09:50:00Z text/html en Olivier Godechot & Rachel Issiakou & Yann Renisio & Adrien Rougier Society university proximity <p>By analyzing nearly 8,000 recruitments for assistant professor positions in France between 2017 and 2024, Olivier Godechot, Rachel Issiakou, Yann Renisio, and Adrien Rougier revisit the long-standing and controversial issue of academic inbreeding.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-value-of-school https://booksandideas.net/The-value-of-school 2026-02-26T08:30:00Z text/html en Nassim El Kabli Society liberalism schooling autonomy Cairn.info <p>School is mandatory and fully justified in being so. Educational authority in no way impairs freedom, provided it focuses on developing students' multiple capacities.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Algorithms-and-the-female-silhouette https://booksandideas.net/Algorithms-and-the-female-silhouette 2026-02-17T06:30:00Z text/html en Hélène Bourdeloie & Solenne Carof Society discrimination women body fashion social media algorithms <p>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.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Dual-Identity https://booksandideas.net/Dual-Identity 2026-02-10T07:00:00Z text/html en Victor Lu Huynh Society identity race childhood Cairn.info <p>How do children construct their racial identity? Based on a groundbreaking study of children from so-called “mixed” couples, Solène Brun explores the processes of racialization within family structures.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Can-social-cohesion-be-measured https://booksandideas.net/Can-social-cohesion-be-measured 2026-02-05T07:00:00Z text/html en Nicolas Duvoux Society social bond Cairn.info <p>In a stimulating and well-informed essay, Sandra Hoibian refutes the idea that French society is becoming fragmented and suggests ways to measure a vague concept: social cohesion.</p> https://booksandideas.net/A-Critique-of-TV-Series https://booksandideas.net/A-Critique-of-TV-Series 2026-01-29T08:52:00Z text/html en Jean-Baptiste Ghins Society subculture television digital consumerism popular culture <p>Digitally distributed television series are one of the key forms of contemporary entertainment. By analyzing this distinctive form of consumption, it is possible to explain these consumers' relationship to time, narratives, and decision-making.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-Dark-Side-of-Telescopes https://booksandideas.net/The-Dark-Side-of-Telescopes 2026-01-27T07:30:00Z text/html en Florian Mathieu Society environment science environmentalism astrophysics <p>Drawing on a socio-historical study of the construction of astronomical observatories on the island of Hawai‘i, Pascal Marichalar shows that scientific policies can no longer be considered separately from their ecological and social impacts.</p> https://booksandideas.net/Where-do-our-clothes-go https://booksandideas.net/Where-do-our-clothes-go 2026-01-13T06:30:00Z text/html en Leslie Belton-Chevallier Society market fashion Cairn.info <p>The international and industrialized market for used or secondhand clothes—known in French as “<i>fripes”</i> - is not a genuine alternative to “fast fashion”. Rather, it preserves, pursues, and reproduces economically, socially, and symbolically the characteristics of the market for new clothes.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-Era-of-Victims https://booksandideas.net/The-Era-of-Victims 2025-12-09T07:37:00Z text/html en David El Kenz Society Shoah violence genocide Cairn.info <p>Since the two World Wars, the victim has been raised to the status of a sacred and predominant figure in historical memory. The victim has become the new figure of the hero, thus setting a new and controversial example.</p> https://booksandideas.net/The-ecofeminism-of-ordinary-people https://booksandideas.net/The-ecofeminism-of-ordinary-people 2025-12-02T09:00:00Z text/html en Maureen Bal Society feminism environmentalism homosexuality Cairn.info <p>By shedding light on alternative ways of life that have hitherto been kept in the shadows, Constance Rimlinger shows that ecofeminist utopias are a reality that seeks emancipation from capitalism and patriarchy.</p>