FMSH

The non take-up of social benefits is becoming increasingly widespread as a phenomenon, and is now a central concept within public policy analysis. Philippe Warin examines the diverse reasons for why people fail to claim the benefits they are entitled to, which range from a simple lack of awareness and entitlement to more complex issues of indifference towards and even rejection of the social security system.

Every year the public authorities wait until the end of the school year to expel France’s Gypsies. Emmanuel Filhol shows us how this policy of discrimination, which runs contrary to the principles of the French Republic, was gradually established and then intensified during the 20^th century.

For the Dutch, the French social model seems particularly generous. However, no real comparison is possible if the facts are taken out of context. The understanding of the Dutch proverb ‘To live like God in France’ changes somewhat when we consider Antoine Bevort’s investigation of the differences between social relations in France and in the Netherlands.

The RSA (Active Solidarity Income) is supposed to reduce poverty by one third between now and 2012. It is based on the observation that work doesn’t pay enough to keep some people out of poverty. But the reform is based on certain implicit assumptions. According to Hélène Périvier, the problem is not so much inadequate pay as lack of jobs, underemployment, and the numerous problems faced by people without jobs.

Contrary to the view generally accepted among historians of antiquity on the authority of Plato and Aristotle, allotment does not strictly go hand in hand with democracy. According to Paul Demont, it was rather the establishment of democracy that gradually democratized a practice that was originally aristocratic and religious.

Since the 1990s and the collapse of the Communist bloc, thousands of “Roma” have left Eastern Europe. Their arrival in the west, particularly France and Italy, has provoked strong negative reactions – and not only on account of their poverty and way of life. Today, closely linked to the conditions of entry and stay of foreigners, the ‘Roma’ question is at the centre of European and national politics.

Are the arguments regarding ’the interest of the child’ given by opponents of same-sex parenting founded? Recent studies in the United States compare the academic achievement, personal development and mental health of children raised by same-sex couples with those of children raised by heterosexual couples.

Is people’s passion for football as we know it today a recent development? Marion Fontaine retraces the history of supporters and show-business football, showing how the game gradually became a form of major entertainment.

Environmental concern now seems to be a matter of broad consensus. It is sometimes forgotten that NGOs, long considered marginal, were the first to sound the alarm and lead the movement to protect the planet. We will now look back on thirty years of mobilisation that have changed our perception of these organisations.

Alain Ehrenberg believes that Robert Castel’s review of his book in La Vie des Idées is grounded in a misunderstanding about his approach. As opposed to presenting America as a model, Ehrenberg’s comparative approach attempts to describe the social meanings of autonomy in order to transcend the opposition between liberalist and antiliberalist orientations. His objective is to replace an individualistic sociology with a sociology of individualism.

Although agricultural protectionism is a major obstacle to development in some Southern countries, it cannot be blamed for the food crisis of 2007-2008. Growing trade liberalisation in the agricultural sector had an ambiguous effect: it facilitated the development of countries with a comparative advantage in the sector, but it also led to a rise in agricultural prices and therefore harmed developing countries that are net importers of food products.

In response to the reaction of three researchers in Economic Sciences and Sociology published yesterday in La Vie des Idées, Oliver Godechot and Alexandra Louvet here round out and clarify their position regarding academic inbreeding.

Is academic inbreeding an ethic of loyalty or perverse nepotism? In order to determine the extent of the favouritism shown towards a university’s own ‘inbred’ candidates, Olivier Godechot and Alexandra Louvet established a benchmark based on an original source: the theses that were defended between 1972 and 1996. The results are enlightening.

Already troubled by the recognition of the independence of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian republics, many regional leaders in the Russian Federation are questioning Moscow’s control, and accuse Moscow of managing the economic crisis in an authoritative way. The “power vertical”, the main axis of Putin’s doctrine to maintain control over the Federation since 2000, could be weakened.

Even if India is a caste society, social mobility is not impossible. Many years of positive discrimination policies and struggle have enabled some Dalits—the caste name of the so-called Untouchables—to escape their condition. Jules Naudet bases his work on his study of Dalits who have become senior civil servants, tenured university teachers or senior executives in order to focus on the bonds that connect them to their original background. .

Europe is inventing a new form of citizenship founded not in government participation but in the achievement of specifically European rights and in a political debate increasingly geared to European issues, evidencing, Justine Lacroix asserts, if not the existence of a European people, at any rate that of a political Europe.

Eminem, like millions of Americans, just strolls down to his local pharmacist. Thus at a time when the country is questioning its future state of health, the inspired artist exposes the hidden panacea of American society and throws a glaring spotlight on the issue of drug addiction in America today.