Réinterroger la relation entre école et mobilité sociale. Le cas des enfants d’agriculteurs et d’ouvriers dans l’Ouest

Till now, the relation between schooling and social mobility, a classical question in the sociology of education, has been approached through analyses of a structural sort, either by focusing on the functions that schools are supposed to fill or by adopting the timeless model of neoclassical economics. This approach does not examine all possible relations between schools and social mobility; nor does it see these relations in terms of a process. A study of the scholastic biographies of the children of farmers and workers in western France renews our conception of this relation. It shows that this relation mainly stems from a combination of quite heterogeneous elements, which we glimpse in these biographies.     

Du vent dans le ciel de plomb ? L’accès des femmes aux professions supérieures, xix-xx siècles

Women with diplomas, authority, power, in the professions, in top jobs… Nowadays, since demands have taken shape around the concepts of “parities” or quotas, the phases in the process whereby women have gained access to top positions in employment risk being overlooked. This process stretches out over a long time, even though Western European countries have passed through successive phases at about the same time. The years 1880, 1920, 1970 and 2000 stand out like landmarks in this conquest starting out from equal access to education and continuing through the slow mixing of the two sexes in various types of jobs, medical, technical, legal, military or political. Till the last decades of the 20th century, feminists (men as well as women) fought for these advances despite the scorn of those men and women who wanted to see women confined to the jobs “fit for them”, in particular in education and care-giving.     

Pflege der Eltern – Ein europäischer Vergleich*

Elderly people are predominantly cared for by family members. However, not every parent in need is cared for by a child, and not all family members are involved in care. Which factors influence the provision of care? Do European countries differ in regard to intergenerational care, and what are the reasons for these differences? The empirical analyses, based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland), show that various factors influence care by children: individual characteristics of parents and children, family structures and cultural-contextual factors, including welfare institutions. Intergenerational help occurs more often in Southern and Central European countries, where children are legally obliged to support parents in need. At the same time, in Europe professional home care services enable adult children to pursue their personal plans beyond care obligations.     

Marketing Models: The Culture of Mathematical Economics

This paper explores the culture in which academic economists work, and tries to show how an appreciation of this culture makes their work more understandable and valuable to mainstream sociology. Economists are not interested in representing reality, but in constructing models that simplify reality to isolate mechanisms that account for observed phenomena. Economists have a distinctive epistemic culture, sustained by the discourse through which they talk and think about their work. This discourse mediates the relationship between the mathematical models they devise and the economic phenomena to which they apply. This study reveals economists' culture based on in-depth interviews with academic economists and an ethnographic study of economic departments in Israel.

Comment se font les administrations : analyser des activités administratives constituantes

Between studies in historical sociology on changes in public administrations and microsociological analyses of the ordinary work done by civil servants, an intermediate perspective is advocated, one centered on “constituent administrative activities”. Following a panorama of the varied researches on public administrations, the proposal is made to focus on the arrangements that shape administrations and form their essential operations. Recruitment, personnel evaluation, the division of labor, the restructuring of hierarchies and the activities of keeping written records and statistics (writing and counting) should be the subjects of study. When placed in their historical and social contexts, they help us better understand how public administrations last and change. Discussing the scale of analysis and making comparisons over time and in space, this article presents the other contributions to this special issue. Less linear approaches are suggested for analyzing the historical processes of the “bureaucratization” and “managerialization” of administrative systems.     

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.     

Handlungszuschreibung und Situationsdefinition

Action as meaningful behavior and action as an attributional category are usually understood to represent competing concepts of action. In contrast, the present paper argues that the sociological theory of action should include both views. One main reason is that the concept of social action does not only rely on the social actor’s own meaningful behavior but requires him or her to interpret the behavior of the other(s) as action and thus implies the attribution of action. Attributed actions are not just imagined actions. Rather, when attributed actions become the social actor’s reference point for his own actions, they gain a reality of their own. Especially when the attribution of action takes place within the frame of reference of intersubjective definitions of the situation, attributed actions tend to gain such a reality of their own. This effect is connected with two different forms of intersubjective definitions of the situations: those who are commonly shared and those who are effectively enforceable. Additionally, the paper distinguishes between two modes of attributing actions: attribution of reasons and attribution of causation. Using these both distinctions, the paper analyses different ways of how attributed actions come into effect within social action.     

Effect of agricultural policy on succession decisions of farm households

Policymakers, economists, and researchers have recently been interested in assessing the impact of farm program payments on the growth and survival of farm businesses. Planning for succession is an integral part of managing a farm business. This study uses farm-level data to investigate the impact of government farm policy and farm growth on both succession decisions and the likelihood of intra-family transfers of the farm business. Results indicate that succession decisions are significantly influenced by government farm policy, farm wealth, age, and educational attainment of current farm operators. Results show that off-farm work by operators and spouses and regional location are positively correlated with non-family farm succession decisions. On the other hand, farm ownership, educational attainment, and marital status of the operator increase the likelihood of family-based succession decisions. However, in the presence of retirement income from other sources such as pension, parents are less likely to have a family successor.

Did the legalization of abortion increase women’s household bargaining power? Evidence from labor supply

I estimate the impact of abortion legalization on spouses’ labor supplies to test whether legalization increased women’s household bargaining power, in a collective household behavior framework. Based on CPS data, I find that wives’ labor supply decreased and their husbands’ increased, which is consistent with the bargaining hypothesis. This contrasts with most studies of abortion and birth control technologies, which predict a labor supply effect only for women, and of opposite sign. Also consistent with the bargaining interpretation, I estimate no significant impact on anti-abortion religious couples or on those who regularly used contraceptives. PSID data yield supportive evidence.

Warum werden Arbeiterkinder vom Studium an Universitäten abgelenkt? Eine empirische Überprüfung der „Ablenkungsthese“ von Müller und Pollak (2007) und ihrer Erweiterung durch Hillmert und Jacob (2003)

Why are the working- class children diverted from universities? In spite of the educational expansion, the decline of inequalities of educational opportunities in schools, and the institutional reforms in vocational training and university education, the access to tertiary education at university remains still remarkably unequal across social classes. In accordance with the ?diversion thesis‘ suggested by Müller and Pollak and extended by Hillmert and Jacob working class children are lead away from the direct path to university to non-academic education institutions because of both the impact of institutional structures of the educational systems on individuals‘ educational choices and the attractiveness of alternative education and training in non-academic areas. In order to investigate how does the diversion work the mechanisms of socially selective educational choices have to be analyzed from the perspective of rational action theory. For the empirical test of the theoretical approach data about school-leaves with the ?Abitur‘ (high school degree) in the East Germany federal state Saxony are employed. Subjective evaluation of the former educational performance, the expectation to be successful at university and the subjectively expected costs are the mechanisms mainly responsible that working class children more likely choose the vocational training than education at university. In particular, the subjectively expected success at university has the greatest impact on working class children‘s educational choices leading them away from the university.     

Focused Foster Care for Children with Serious Sexual Behavior Problems

Properly implemented, foster family care may represent a uniquely appropriate placement/treatment alternative for young children with pronounced or dangerous sexual behavior problems. A few programs have reported preliminary but promising results with such children in fostering environments specifically designed to address their special problems. This study details the salient components of one such program that has proven successful over the past six years with most of thirty youthful clients referred to it facing few alternative placement options. Rankings by program staff and program parents of the relative importance of ten program components to client success are reported, and updates on previously published outcomes with the first six clients to enter the program are offered. Subjective but important “lessons learned” by staff and parents about working with this difficult population in the fostering environment are also discussed.

Construire le mérite dans la fonction publique d’État : l’exemple de la Culture (1880-1980)

Merit-based procedures for evaluating and grading civil servants in the French central government have often been studied from the angle of circulations of ideas or practices between the public and private sectors or toward foreign organizations. Less attention has been given to the internal origins of procedures for assessing the work of civil servants. This article focuses on the procedures gradually worked out to evaluate civil servants in the French Ministry of Culture. Light is shed on the difficulties of keeping the Republic's promise to base merit only a difference in talent alone. How to measure a civil servant's work? Are qualifications evaluated while seeing to it that as many government employees as possible receive promotions? This focus on procedures, imagined or actually used, for grading, evaluating and promoting the personnel in museums shows that these processes follow a timing and modality that vary depending on the level in the hierarchy. The evaluation process, however, does wield ties between socio-occupational groups that all else separates. Practices for measuring the work done by these civil servants existed before the neomanagerial objection to the bureaucratic system's rules and regulations in the 1960s. The French way of evaluating merit is not simply an importation of Anglo-Saxon managerial methods.     

Gruppendynamik als Interventionswissenschaft – eine neue Herausforderung?

Social criticism, social learning (action learning), (self-)reflection and interventions into social systems have always been important categories for group dynamics and action research. In chapter one their understanding of ?intervention“ is elaborated, a term that came in use in the context of small groups. Only later this term was also transferred to organizations and institutions. Starting from basic ideas of group dynamics the article investigates to what extent the learning models and ideas to organize social processes that come from laboratory situations can be made fruitful towards a science of intervention (chapter two). In practice a number of group dynamic models for research and professional acting are used (consulting, organization development, training, contract research) but the special method of insight producing and consciousness raising intervention is paid little attention to in social science. It is therefore advisable to estimate these practical experiences higher, in order to make them accessible for a respectable development of theory (case study in chapter two). The way of group dynamics towards an intervention science is a current challenge that all applied social sciences are facing nowadays; the development of a dialectic understanding of science seems to be necessary in this context.     

Religion and Trends in Euthanasia Attitudes among U.S. Adults, 1977–2004

Though many studies address the role of religion in predicting social attitudes over time, none has examined this relationship specifically for euthanasia. Using a large, nationally representative data source, this study seeks to address this void. Our findings indicate that considerable differences exist among religious denominations regarding the legalization of euthanasia. Specifically, we note a liberalizing trend for all included denominations. We also demonstrate substantial differences in the rates of liberalization, particularly in comparison to conservative Protestants. We conclude with an assessment of our findings relative to previous studies on religion and public opinion.

Imaginative Erkundung der Organisationskultur einer psychiatrischen Tagesklinik

In this contribution a representation of the organizational culture of a psychiatric day-time hospital is developed by analyzing the symbolic meanings of action taken by professionals during their daily work and their relations to other patients.After a short summary of concepts of symbolic action theory as developed by E. E. Boesch in the framework of cultural psychology, these are applied to data from two meetings of professional supervision. The data reports about imaginations and phantasms of individual team members (from individual interviews) as well as findings from a group discussion. The analysis results in hypothetic constructions of the individual phantasms and of the organizational myths, directing their actions.This finally results in ‘value orientations’ expressing the organizational culture which are especially valuable for the purpose of respectful supervision. The author regards the careful consideration of the dynamics between individual phantasms and group myths as being a central task of good practices of supervision, with the aim to develop the action potential of professionals and their patients in such a way that it is well-adapted to both autonomy and cultural frame.     

The Native in the Garden: Floral Politics and Cultural Entrepreneurs

Although sociological research has examined how state symbolism binds citizens together and creates allegiance, little attention has been paid to how such symbols are selected. We investigate the adoption of state flowers in the United States. Seemingly unproblematic processes surrounding the selection of floral emblems can, under certain circumstances, involve heated symbolic politics. The default option of selecting a native flower, naturalizing the state, can be overcome by materialist or cultural interests that invest cultivated flowers with symbolic potency. In-depth case studies of three states where battles were waged over the state flower reveal that the battle lines were material and symbolic, demonstrating that apparently “authentic” representations of nature can be trumped by factional and subcultural interests.

Kooperation zwischen Organisationen

The success of organizations stands very often in direct correlation to other organizations. The more differentiated, the more subtlety organizations and their tasks are the more this applies: and this applies equally for both profit and non-profit organizations. The way an organization behaves and co-operates with other organizations crucially influences the success factor. And must, as such, be taken extremely seriously and placed in the focal point of organizations’ management strategies and their dynamic processes of change.This contribution is the product of the joint reflections of the authors advisory functions in and with organizations, and closely examines the process of helping to build successful co-operative relationships between organizations. They (the authors) will present their opinions upon what makes co-operative relationships work effectively. The authors will refer to the theory of company control and the systemic development of co-operative strategies, as well as a dynamic group understanding of social dynamics. And demonstrate that the coming together of these various standpoints, results in a new and tenable form of productive co-operation between organizations. In consequence, it furthermore exhibits, how innovative possibilities, like the construction of the co-operative relationship, with adequate control instruments, can be appropriately supported: In concrete terms we will present the from the authors developed intermediary balanced scorecard (BSC). The last section of our article is devoted to the discussion of effective success factors, which, from practical experience, can be regarded as relevant in the forming of the processes of co-operation.     

Raising the Status of the Cashier: Latina–White Interactions in an Ethnic Market

Using a Latino-owned and -operated ethnic market in southern California as an ethnographic research site, we analyze and compare the interactions between foreign-born, Latina cashiers and their Latino and White customers. We ask two main questions: what is the nature of cashier–customer interactions, and what do they tell us about the social hierarchy in which they are embedded? While most studies of service interactions find that intraracial encounters are friendlier than interracial ones, the results of this study prove otherwise. We find that the Latina cashiers are routinely friendlier, more deferential, and extend the length of the interaction with their White customers. We conclude that Latina cashiers deliberately provide better service to their White customers because they feel that the patronage of White, middle-class shoppers raises their occupational status as well as the status of their workplace.

Exploring the Racial Identities of Black Immigrants in the United States

This study draws upon immigrant incorporation theories to investigate whether native origin trumps skin color in shaping the racial identities of black migrants. Using survey data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, six groups of black migrants are compared across two racial identity dimensions: racial group identification and racial group consciousness. The results demonstrate that while black migrants, with the exception of Puerto Ricans, develop a shared racial group identity with native-born blacks over time, the meaning they attach to being black in America varies by native origin.

Compter : l’invention de la statistique des fonctionnaires en France (1890-1930)

Civil servant statistics in France were invented on the margins of the state during the period from 1890 to 1930. This invention came out of activist and/or professional rationales that were desynchronized with the drafting or application of polices for reducing the number of government employees. There were three successive phases. At the dawn of the xx^th century, civil servants were counted in order to inveigh against “functionarism” and “depopulation”. During the decade before World War I, counting them was a matter of improving the expertise of statisticians. Between the two World Wars, sharp cuts were made in personnel, while civil service statistics were held in abeyance. By focusing on how civil servant statistics have been produced and used, the approach proposed herein sheds new light on a persistent but paradoxical discourse in France that ignores how many civil servants there are while claiming that there are too many.