Repas ambulants Informalité urbaine et modernité industrielle à la frontière nord du Mexique

The relation between urban informality and industrial modernity is analyzed by examining very small businesses specialized in selling prepared food to workers in the transnational manufacturing plants (maquiladoras) along Mexico’s northern border. In the urban setting along this border, the model of an export-driven industrialization is compatible with premodern aspects of the subsistence economy. In fact, it depends on subsistence activities for its very existence. As a consequence, informal services have emerged that help stabilize the work force needed by these plants. A survey of the owners of these microbusinesses has provided data for analyzing the organization and operation of this commerce and its relation with the family as a social unit. — Special issue: Latin America.     

Écrire la loi. Un travail de bureau pour hauts fonctionnaires du ministère de l’Écologie

This article analyses the process of the drafting of the Bachelot Bill on technological risks, passed on 30 July 2003 but initiated by Lionel Jospin's government immediately following the AZF factory disaster in September 2001. It focuses on the practical work of the civil servants at the Ministry of Ecology responsible for setting the orientations of the reform, transcribing them into legal provisions and ensuring that they would be supported and passed in Parliament. The analysis approaches the task by tracking both the successive versions of the bill and the multiple documents used in the preparation of these versions. This immersion in the administrative production of law provides a better understanding of the relations between the civil service and the political authorities, and shows how the boundary between these two worlds of practice is difficult to draw in the legal drafting process.     

Maux du travail : dégradation, recomposition ou illusion ?

In recent years, the attention of French public opinion has been focused on the noxious effects of new ways of organizing work. Stress, “suffering”, burnout, psychosocial risks and suicides are topics that have brought experts, the media and politicians into action. What do the social sciences have to say about this? Among the several reactions presented, the principal contrast arises between those who analyze the ills of work as “social constructions” and those who see them as the implications of a trend toward intensifying job-related activities.     

Le syndicat des travailleurs domestiques de Rio de Janeiro : un observatoire des transformations de l'emploi domestique au Brésil

This study of the major dimensions of actions undertaken by the labor union for household employees in Rio de Janeiro shows how the new “social rights” extended to these personal service workers has led to a new sense of what is “fair” and to an increase in lawsuits with employers. Given its place in labor relations courts, the union's position is ambivalent. Light is shed on the tensions between various categories of persons who visit the union's offices — tensions that tell us much about social relations. Attention is then turned to this small organization's role in labor courts: after cases have been heard, household employees often have a feeling that their rights have been upheld.     

Litigating Change? Social Movements and the Court System

Social movement actors increasingly turn to the law and pursue litigation in their efforts to bring about social change. Our article provides an overview of scholarship on collective and politicized litigation, drawing from sociolegal studies, political science, and sociology. We consider scholarship that illuminates why activists turn to litigation tactics in the first place and circumstances in which a social movement litigation strategy can be successful. We also consider additional impacts of movement litigation. Given that social movement researchers in sociology have, to date, paid only limited attention to activist litigation, we encourage scholars in the discipline to investigate further this important form of social movement mobilization.     

Retour sur le « secteur informel ». L'économie du Katanga (Congo-Zaïre) face à la falsification de la loi

In the social sciences, the idea of an informal sector has been criticized more for the classification of economic activities in two separate sectors than for the labeling of them as “formal” or “informal”. In the Congo (formerly Zaire), the use of such labels is ambiguous. Labeling has to be understood in the context of corruption, i.e., in a transaction involving the personal networks and social identities of the parties to it. An analysis is made of how such transactions with civil servants shape the local market in the case of the import trade in Katanga. Compared with the formal/informal cleavage, this approach enables us both to see the labeling of economic activities as a social and political process and to draw attention to the plurality of such practices in relations with authorities.     

Pour une sociologie des professionnels engagés : « Mondes de l’art » et militantisme contre la guerre en Irak aux États-Unis

This analysis of the mobilization of American artists against the war in Iraq emphasizes how their work situations have shaped their involvement. Regardless of political organizations and networks, or of the ideological dimensions of the anti-war cause, relations having to do with the work and occupational identities of these persons determined, in the first place, their actions and the positions they have adopted publicly. This article contrasts various “artistic subfields” and “patterns of activity” in order to understand the factors that have made it more or less tenable for these social actors to articulate the identities of artist and activist and, in some cases, to produce “political art”. The second part focuses on the “professional structuring” of this activism by showing how the current operation of artistic spheres — which have become more self-regulated, specialized and professionalized —tend to curb the confusion of issues that mixes aesthetic up with politics.     

LEGITIMATING TRANSPHOBIA

Transgender persons are strangers to the law; or put more accurately, the legal imagination is so deeply entrenched in normative gender binarism as to effectively render transsexuals a ‘freakish’ anomaly to law. This essay attempts to offer a reflection on transgenderism, law and sexual crime from a human rights and criminal law perspective. It focuses on one of the most violent types of institution in society – the prison – and asks: what are the legal imagination and practice surrounding transgender prisoners as they are linked to social and cultural transphobia? What ‘human’ rights can be practiced for a dehumanized class? It first surveys the legal predicament of transgender prisoners in the US prison system in relation to Eighth Amendment rights provided by the US Constitution. The US situation has seen cases that have importantly shed light on other jurisdictions when engaging with the combined questions of prisoners’ rights and transgender rights together. The analysis is then taken to the context of Hong Kong prisons in a modest application. In contrast to some other Asian contexts (such as Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia), critical cultural studies of transgenderism are non-existent in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, human rights studies of the same have only emerged through the work of legal scholar Robyn Emerton. It is hoped that a rights-based approach will emerge in Hong Kong for the protection of transgender inmates from sexual violence in local correctional facilities.     

Les émeutes urbaines de l’automne 2005 : cadres d’analyse et points aveugles de la sociologie française

Sociological interpretations of the suburban riots in France during the autumn of 2005 have been the subject of many a comment. This critique places the more original interpretations in the context of the unstated paradigms adopted by “understanding” authors, who have sought to provide a meaning to persons whose actions were supposedly deprived of it. There is a flagrant need for studies of how the crisis was globally managed with respect to local events - as if the persons involved in regulating the riots were not as worthy of study by sociology. Case studies are emerging to fill this need that have more awareness of the interactions between parties during these events.     

Toward a Theory of Law in Society

Abstract

Interest group conflict, power, and values have been prominent in recent attempts to analyze law as social control. The role of fact beliefs in creating, interpreting and administering legal norms has been relatively neglected, especially in the few efforts toward theories of law in society. Both fact beliefs and value beliefs are here related to legal norms, and also to group interests, power and conflict. Law is conceived of as the formal social control of the political state, a definition that does not at all require acceptance of Austin's view of law as commands of the sovereign. The forced choice between power elite and structural-functional theories is avoided, since law operates in a wide variety of power situations. The subjective meanings of interest group actions directed toward legal norms are seen as consisting of value and fact beliefs, an approach of particular promise in analyzing law and social change.     

Structuration d’un champ d’action publique : l’intervention publique sur les copropriétés dégradées

This article focuses on the social construction of the problem, which emerged in France during the 1980s, of dilapidated condominium apartment buildings and on the public policy instruments that have been used. A sociology of organized action serves to analyze this twofold process, which has resulted from the formation of networks of persons unfamiliar with the legal aspects of condominium ownership. Linking the periphery to the center, these networks have crystallized around norms ensuing from housing policy. The concept of “field” in the Weberian sense explains this crystallization, and also applies to the symmetrical process of conserving civil law on joint ownership. Parties attached to this normative system denied the problem of dilapidated condominiums, when it was presented to them. By pursuing a social activity based on applying and producing rules, individuals in the networks related to housing policy and persons concerned by condominium ownership contributed to maintaining and, too, revitalizing rules and norms.     

LOCATING CULTURE IN THE US AND CENTRAL EUROPE - A TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE ON CULTURAL STUDIES

This article attempts a comparative critique of interdisciplinary cultural analysis in the US and Central Europe. It tries to sketch out the different points of departure and methodological approaches used in American and British cultural studies on the side, and in German Kulturwissenschaften (cultural sciences) on the other side. Furthermore it is asked in which ways the critical political impetus of cultural studies can be made productive for the further advancement of Kulturwissenschaften, and how they could perform an innovative role for the understanding of problems posed by the current political and social situation in Central Europe.     

Building alliances: Defending immigrant rights in rural Oregon

Political participation in the rural United States has often been narrowly defined within the confines of electoral politics. Increasingly, participants in rural US social movements have highlighted the shortcomings of democracy defined purely in terms of electoral politics in favour of a more participatory model of politics that focuses on the social and cultural rights of those who are often formally or informally excluded from the liberal definition of citizenship. This article highlights the process of claiming rights as cultural citizens in a political context where there are efforts through the formal political system—usually in the form of ballot referendums at the state or local level—to further limit the rights of specific constituencies such as gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals or immigrants. A second focus of this article is on the dynamics of solidarity and alliance building between different kinds of social movements acting in concert to push for cultural rights and then formal rights for each other's constituencies. The article specifically seeks to illustrate how two organizations that share quite different constituencies and agendas can effectively collaborate in regional and state-wide campaigns in the rural state of Oregon, while also honestly discussing their differences and difficulties in working together.     

Les politiques d'emploi et la transformation des normes : une comparaison européenne

Given the central orientation of the European employment strategy — adapt unemployment compensation systems so as to broaden access to jobs — the effects of policies in this field are examined by focusing on three axes: the impact on unemployment; the action on employment standards, and trends in the social regulation underlying these policies. A comparative view reveals how much national systems have been able to interpret EU objectives in their own way. This does not invalidate the pertinence of a European level of regulation,but it does expose the conditions for clarifying standards for public actions and leading actors to become involved in EU institutions, a source of legitimacy still to be constructed. This comparison of six national cases (Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom) sheds light on the importance of the social compromises that set the framework for job polices. The quality of occupational transitions is related to the ability of actors to jointly regulate employment policy and labor market standards. — Special issue: New patterns of institutions.     

La constitution d'une élite du Welfare dans la France des années 1990

A neo-elitist interpretation of the relations between the governmental and administrative elites helps us understand new power relations at the top of the French state. Light is shed on the formation, during the last twenty years, of a “welfare state elite”, which has arisen around decision-making in the social service sector. An analysis of changes in social policies shows how an elite that has shared the same purposes in collective action has gradually asserted its identity as a group. With a very coherent view of public policies and of relations with the authorities exercising oversight (Cour des Comptes, IGAS), this elite has proven capable of exercising a strong influence over policy-making. Its institutionalization is corroborated by the long careers in this sector that lead to controlling professional know-how. In brief, a unified elite has arisen that might well leave lasting marks on the future of the French welfare state.     

L’intergouvernementalité en reconstruction : le cas du Mexique

Since the 1930s, Mexico has had a dominant party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional; and, despite the country’s federal constitution, decision-making has been so centralized that few powers have been left to the states. Recent attempts to break with this tradition and decentralize educational, health and welfare policy from the federal level to the states and big cities are examined. Three trends might unfold in the future: the establishment of an effective, multicentered decentralization; a surface decentralization without any real impact; or the fragmentation of policies and their impact. The foreseeable consequences of these three possibilities come under discussion. — Special issue: Latin America.     

La clôture comme seule protection ? Syndicats du spectacle et marché du travail dans l’entre-deux-guerres (1919-1937)

The case of performers in the entertainment industry during the period between the two World wars serves to test the hypothesis of a monopolistic closure, as workers try to improve their lot by restricting access to the labor market. In line with the predictions of this hypothesis in the sociology of professions, actors and singers did try to close the labor market by instituting a “professional card”. Contrary to expectations however, labor organizations of musicians sought to control pay scales and jobs by opening the market so widely that anyone entering it joined the organization. These two different strategies affected these groups’ identities by drawing legitimate boundaries and influencing the nature and degree of solidarity. Beyond these strategies, two prospects for emancipation contrast with each other: the professional one of an exclusive group among performing artists on stage and in song, and the wage-earning one of an inclusive group among musicians.     

Une privatisation inédite de la norme : le cas de la politique comptable européenne

EU member states have, for a long time, been harmonizing their accounting rules in order to facilitate comparisons among countries. A new regulation in 2002 has suddenly sped up this process. Under it, companies quoted in the stock exchange are, since 2005, required to comply with the standards set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), a private body without any public mandate. After trying to harmonize its members’ standards, the EU’s decision to resort to private subcontracting is even more puzzling given the Union’s lack of any statutory control over the IASB. In this impressive case of the privatization of a regulatory process, attention is focused on the incorporation of IASB standards in EU law and on the structure and governance of this board. This transfer of power is much broader than usual forms of delegation to the private sector. Although several reasons underlie this relinquishment of public authority, the primary one lies within the EU itself.     

Recruteurs sous tensions. Discrimination et diversité au prisme de registres argumentaires enchevêtrés

While most studies on discriminatory practices in recruitment identify them with a single set of motives, this article, based on 57 interviews with recruiters from different sectors, seeks to provide an alternative analytical framework. The requirements for fairness in the recruitment process are taken seriously and used to describe an experience of recruitment that entails grappling with contradictory demands, some related to economic efficiency, others to social justice. Recruiters have to balance these requirements. And whether or not recruitment is discriminatory depends on how the balance is struck and the social and organisational constraints that affect it.     

WEAPONS OF SEX,WEAPONS OF WAR

Recent international attention has focused on designations of rape and sexual violence in conflict zones. The most formative debates on this issue centre on the 1990s-era conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, which also involved heated debates amongst feminists over designations of rape as genocide. While the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda case, the Prosecutor v. Akayesu, resulted in the first formal charge of wartime rape as genocide within international criminal law, the first case to charge wartime rape as genocidal occurred in US federal court. This project looks for the overarching social and political meaning of the contemporary international legal focus on rape and sexual violence. It examines why, how, and to what extent US and transnational feminist legal academics and activists transmitted and secured their understandings of the relationships between sex, violence and ethno-religious difference within the international legal arena. In doing so, I argue that their participation in the contemporary recognition and narration of sexual injury in a global context both retreads and reconfigures the heated 1980s-era US Sex Wars debates on the workings of gender, sex, race and power.