Externaliser la défense : la politique américaine

This analysis of the thoroughgoing change effected in the US defense industry shows that the Pentagon’s traditional partners are taking a back seat behind private, for-profit service providers. These firms, which provide military services and the “information technology” necessary for modern warfare, now play a key role in the American national security system. Among the factors accounting for this unprecedented sharing of a classical government prerogative with private firms are the redefinition of the government’s role, the technological revolution and the strategic environment related to the global war against terrorism. This role-sharing brings new forces into play. The Defense Department is externalizing strategic activities without all the legislative and institutional means for regulating them, whence the risk of a crisis in the military establishment. The mixed systems coming out of this change are a driving force in altering the civilian and military capability to project power and intervene in the world.     

Un plafond à caissons : les femmes à l’EHESS

The feminization of employment at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris has fallen off after an early start and it remains low. This is not to be set down so much to the formally discriminating nature of the recruitment examination (concours) as to competition, the accumulation of social capital and the methods for producing job applications. The initial feminization owed much to long inhouse careers, as women were recruited without sitting for an examination but into subordinate positions from which they could move upwards. This trend came to a halt as this channel of recruitment was shut down and a more elitist, relational and competitive one was opened that leads fewer women to enter job applications. The situation is not a stalemate however. A group of women professors has managed to place the gender question on the agenda and this seems to have given a (weak) boost to feminization.     

L’Europe sociale : créativité institutionnelle communautaire et réalités nationales

“Social Europe” has been constructed following 50 years of EEC and EU policy-making, which has gradually extricated social questions from a pure rationale of economic integration in order to turn it into a lever for European political integration. The theoretical and disciplinary viewpoints are presented that, together, help us better understand the processes at work. Attention is drawn to three of them. First of all, the evolutionary process of building the EU accounts both for the differences between social Europe and national welfare systems, and for an ongoing process of institutional creation through an accumulation of EU legal achievements (acquis). Secondly, the expansion of the EU to twelve new member states lacking robust labor relation systems, along with globalization, represents a challenge for the future of the “European social model”. Finally, social Europe has not yet undergone an assessment. Problems arise owing to the short shrift given by treaties to questions of social legislation or redistribution, but the “Europeanization of national policies” apparently opens a way toward overcoming these obstacles.     

Entreprises et gouvernance en France : perspectives historiques et évolutions récentes

Does France have a society that is blocked by nature and essence? A historical perspective yields a completely different view of the country's social and economic landscape. In particular, attention is drawn to the deep transformations of French firms and of their governance. The history of this change partly fits into a broader trend that, reaching well beyond borders, can be easily summed up through a single word — “globalization”. Changes in French firms and in their “logics of governance” can partly be seen as a reaction to powerful outside pressures that are pushing the economies of France and many other countries in a particular direction. Still, as we probe further, we realize that these changes are, in fact, adaptations, translations and hybridizations that involve ongoing negotiations with already existing institutional frames and logics. The advance of globalization and neoliberalism is quite real; but it interplays with and is embedded in local settings and logics that limit its scope and impact. — Special issue: New patterns of institutions.     

Formation et calcul des prix : le travail de tarification dans la grande distribution

Sociologists have recently been rasing questions about how prices are set in various markets. Although their seminal studies have explained the many processes and variables that come into play, they do not enable us to describe the concrete procedures whereby prices are actually calculated. This empirical case study explores the sophisticated methods of calculating the prices of products distributed in a French retail hypermarket chain. Three major conclusions are drawn. First of all, the law enters into the delimitation of the “space” for calculating the prices that distributors set for selling to consumers. Secondly, the choice of a procedure for performing the calculation affects the balance of power between marketing professionals in the struggle to control their shares in the value. Thirdly, the “consumer sale price” does not result directly either from the relation between supply and demand or from micronegotiations between suppliers and distributors. Instead, it tends to ensue from the linkage between several, heterogenous “spaces” of calculation. This study describes the actors, tools and know-how involved in defining these spaces.     

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.     

Navigating “illegality”: Undocumented youth & oppositional consciousness

In recent years, a vibrant political movement has emerged, led by a sector previously thought to be too vulnerable to engage in public protest-undocumented youth. This article explores the experiences of undocumented youth and their emergent activism. I posit that growing up within the context of dominant discourses regarding immigration in a moment marked by a re-entrenchment of borders and citizenship shapes not only the lived experiences, but also the political consciousness of many undocumented young people. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research with undocumented Latino youth activists in California, this article argues that oppositional consciousness is forged through the constant navigation of “illegality”. I examine two sites upon which this navigation takes place – the negotiation of fear and shame and the navigation of the exclusion – and explore the way in which negotiation of “illegality” in these sites of daily life contributes to the development of an oppositional consciousness.     

Le contrôle du travail par les ouvriers : analyses à partir d'observations participantes

The sociology and anthropology of labor have long drawn attention to the ways employees exercise control over the work process, including in contexts where strong orders are given. The control of work is, in fact, an aspect of how participation and involvement in a collective organization are managed. Workers try to manage their participation (always collective but to varying degrees) in a firm in order to make work a gratifying or at least bearable experience. This involves at least three sorts of interventions linked to practical interests: managing relations with colleagues; managing the execution of tasks and activities; and managing relations with the staff. Focusing on the actor's viewpoint and objectives, this research based on participant observation examines how workers try to act so as to facilitate their activities in the short or middle run. Their efforts sometimes correspond to what the hierarchy expects but, at other times, to a form of rebellion.     

"Heterosexual" Prior to Sex Reassignment - "Homosexual" Afterwards:

A case report of a 36-year old female-to-male transsexual who was attracted to males prior to and following sex reassignment is described. For many years, even before hormonal and sex reassignment, this individual considered himself to be a gay male. This represents an unusual clinical finding with import to theories of sexual development, our definition of gender identity and sexual orientation and the relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation. This case may increase awareness that tenninology is flawed. Gender identity and sexual orientation are separate phenomena and theories of sexual orientation are inadequate. It also lmproves understanding of the special problems associated with cases such as these.