Les figures de la gestion du changement sociotechnique

Computers and software occupy an ever bigger place in an organization’s activities. Studying the social dynamics of their uses has thus become a major preoccupation for the social sciences. An overview of recent studies, in particular “structurationist” research, on this subject is presented; and a federative model, suggested. This archetypical model corresponds to three stylized situations of sociotechnical change (a neutral, regenerated and disturbed archetype) that, in some cases, can be aligned to reconstitute “appropriative trajectories”. This theoretical framework is applied to various sorts of information technology, in particular: enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, intranets and electronic messaging systems. Beyond merely understanding the social dynamics, the effort is made to link appropriative trajectories with the “logics of control” specific to them. The latter correspond to figures of management (the channel, facilitator and catalyst), which are described.     

Le modèle social de l'Europe méridionale: changement et continuité

Ces dernières décennies, tous les aspects du modèle social de l'Europe méridionale ont connu de profonds changements. L'évolution de la législation relative aux relations professionnelles, à la fixation des salaires et à la protection de l'emploi a contribuéà accroître la flexibilité salariale et du travail, et à limiter la segmentation du marché du travail. L'évolution du système de protection sociale a viséà améliorer les qualifications de la main‐d'æuvre, à combler les lacunes de la protection sociale, à réduire les inégalités de la sécurité sociale et à contenir la hausse des dépenses sociales. Les changements institutionnels n'ont pas supprimé les principales caractéristiques du modèle, à savoir une segmentation du marché du travail et un familialisme marqués, mais la grève des naissances laisse entrevoir les limites du familialisme dans un proche avenir.     

À propos de l’article de François-Xavier de Vaujany, « Les figures de la gestion du changement sociotechnique »

The approach adopted by François Xavier de Vaujany draws from “structurationist” research in English-speaking social sciences, a current that shares with the sociology of technology a vision of the contextual and negotiated nature of the links between technical and organizational phenomena. Various trajectories in the way organizations use new information and communication technology can be compared; and the role, examined that specific mediators play in the appropriation process. This approach provides stimulating input in discussions about the impact of new technology on organizational change.     

Globalization,social work,and social welfare

This paper presents a critical review of globalization as explicated in the social work literature. It argues that writers about globalization and social work have so far accepted an unprolematized and undifferentiated construction of the theory of globalization which does not engage with the significant differences that exist between different accounts of globalization. In doing so they implicitly reproduce neo-liberal assumptions about the role of the state and its relationship to global forces. This results in a reductionist and pessimistic analysis of the fragmentation and deprofessionalization of welfare and social work which is often at variance with empirical evidence. Specifically, the acceptance of a narrow and economically over-deterministic reading of globalization unwittingly depoliticizes debates about social work and undermines resistance to the challenges to welfare.     

Social europe,social citizenship,and social services

The article begins by considering moves to establish Social Europe, alongside the European Unions single market, and the emphasis within the formulation of Social Europe on an employment-based model of social citizenship. This employment-based model is considered to be too limited for application to the social services. Accordingly, two other models are placed within the context of continuing European debate. These models are termed state clienthood and state-sponsored consumerism. The social democratic model of state cli-enthood is considered to be flawed by its neglect of the power exercised by the state over users of social services and by its lack of concern with individual needs. The potential of state-sponsored consumerism to open up questions concerning the rights of users of social services and responsiveness to their individual needs is explored and the conclusion is reached that, despite its inauspicious beginnings as part of the New Rights reform programme, this model has possibilities for enhancing social citizenship. Procedural rights offered by state-sponsored consumerism not only can extend social citizenship within existing social services provision but also can serve as a precursor to the wider participation of citizens in the social services, as the site of a continuing struggle around their rights.     

Medical malpractice,social structure,and social control

The origin and handling of doctor-patient conflict can be understood with reference to the sociological aspects of professional health care. This premise is explored by applying Black's theory of social control to the empirical evidence concerning malpractice litigation in the United States. The vertical, organizational, and relational distances between the health care provider and the patient are particularly relevant for predicting when malpractice claims will be made and how they will be resolved. These social-structural variables help explain several patterns in the American malpractice experience, including the aggregate increase in claim rates over the past four decades; the persistence of toleration as the modal response to medical injury; why poorer patients are less suit-prone than higher income patients; why surgical specialties have higher claim rates than general practice and psychiatry; why hospitals are sued disproportionately less often than individual doctors; and the relatively high frequency of prodefendant decisions when lawsuits are decided by a judge or jury.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1992.     

Métier de sociologue,approche inductive et objet d'analyse. Brèves remarques à partir de Bourdieu

This article seeks to reveal the role played by the inductive approach in sociology. Grounded Theory assumes its full importance in formulating sociological explanations. However, the theory does pose a problem, in that the “method” is not based on clearly defined operations, which remain implicit. This article attempts to show that the object of analysis—what is being analyzed—makes perceptible the operations implicitly conceived by the analyst, based on Grounded Theory. With qualitative analysis software, such as Atlas.ti, it is possible to shed light on these operations. The article is illustrated by the theory of Pierre Bourdieu and the epistemological considerations he developed as a result of his qualitative inquiry, La Misère du monde. Cet article cherche à montrer le rôle que joue l'approche inductive en sociologie. La Grounded Theory revêt son importance pour formuler l'explication sociologique. Celle‐ci pose toutefois problème. En effet, la «méthode» ne repose pas sur des opérations clairement définies et celles‐ci restent implicites. Dans cet article, on cherche à montrer que l'objet d'analyse—ce sur quoi porte l'analyse—rend perceptibles les opérations que l'analyste conçoit implicitement en s'appuyant sur la Grounded Theory. Les logiciels d'analyse qualitative, comme Atlas.ti, permettent d'autre part de les mettre en évidence. L'article est illustré par la théorie de Pierre Bourdieu et les considérations épistémologiques qu'a développées cet auteur à la suite de son enquête qualitative sur la Misère du monde.     

The positive science of ethics in France: German influences onDe la division du travail social

What was Durkheim doing—in the sense of an intended social action—in writing De la Division du travail social? At least a part of the answer is that Durkheim's project was linguistic—i.e., he was attempting to replace an outworn vocabulary of Cartesian metaphysics with a more Germanic lexicon—one in which simplicity gave way to complexity, the abstract to the concrete, the ideal to the real, deduction to induction, rationalism to empiricism, and so on. To some extent, this was motivated by the superiority—widely acknowledged among intellectuals of the Third Republic—of German science and Protestant scientific education. But an additional motivation was Durkheim's belief that only a real, concrete entity—society as a “thing” (chose)—could provide an object worthy of the veneration of the “new man” of the Republic. Durkheim's attempt to construct a science of social facts was therefore itself subsidiary to another, “higher” purpose—i.e., the construction of a moral authority (real, concrete, complex) adequate to the needs of the Third French Republic. Rather than an end in itself, Durkheim's sociology should thus be seen as a means to other ends—i.e., the “construction” of a particular kind of “fact”—within a specific social and historical context.     

Neoliberalisation,the social investment state and social work

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the challenges to social work evolving from two major discourses contributing to the common sense contextualising social work within the new spirit of capitalism and the governing of the soul. Beside neo-liberal ideas and values challenging social work values and the welfare state, the question is also about managerialism. To what extent is the social worker able to contribute to liberating, reflexive critique, or exert pastoral power? I have chosen to see how the idea of the social investment state may be linked to Rose’s and Foucault’s ideas about expanding governmentality and end my discussion by relating to some of the early writing on social work’s challenges in confronting ideas and practices interpreted as neoliberalisation moves.