Conflit de générations ou conflit d'organisation ? Un train peut en cacher un autre…

In a railway marshaling yard, relations between the two principal age-groups (employees in their fifties and young, recent hires) are very tense. Various persons set this down to an obvious generation clash. By observing on-the-job situations, we come to see how these tensions tie in with a reorganization of work that occurred when the yong people were hired. Members of these two groups interpret differently the organization of work and the rationale for cooperation between job stations. The explanation in terms of a “generation clash” overlooks the actual issues in an organizational conflict having to do with changes during the recent reorganization. It thus keeps us from noticing the threats against the personnel's statuses and the social and symbolic hierarchies underlying them.     

Utility function of fuzzy preferences on a countable set under max-*-transitivity

We determine, by means of max-*-transitivity, necessary and sufficient conditions for a fuzzy binary relation R defined on a countable (finite or denumerable) set A to be representable by a utility function. We display one example of its application. The first author thanks AUF (Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie). This paper was revised when he was Visiting Researcher at CREM-University of Caen under the Research grant “Bourse Post-doctorale de la Francophonie 2005–2006”.     

The effects of co-operating or conflicting over work restructuring: evidence from employees

This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar large work sites. We consider whether the patterns of response are significantly different where change has been introduced through a more cooperative or a more conflictual bargaining process. In the cooperative negotiations that more typified one site, trade unions made concessions, generating both dissatisfaction with the terms under which teams were introduced and a decline in job satisfaction. At the site more characterised by conflictual negotiations, employees were more satisfied with teamworking after unions protected manning in teams, negotiated a pay increase for more workers and the side payment of a desired 12‐hours shift pattern. The findings indicate how response to workplace change depended upon the terms under which teams were introduced, in turn shaped in important part by the process of negotiating change.     

Choice Functions with States of Mind

An agent is rational by dominance then states of mind (DSM) if he makes his decisions by, first, preselecting the alternatives that are not dominated by any other alternative in the choice set, and second, by choosing the preselected alternative corresponding to his state of mind. This state of mind is dependent on the previous choices he made. An agent is rational by states of mind then dominance (SMD) if he makes his decisions by, first, preselecting the alternatives corresponding to his state of mind and second, choosing the alternative that is not dominated. We give axiomatizations for SMD-rational or DSM-rational choice functions.      

Does acclamation equal agreement? Rethinking collective effervescence through the case of the presidential “tour de France” during the twentieth century

This article discusses the integrative function frequently assigned to festive events by scholars. This function can be summed up in a proposition: experiencing similar emotions during collective gatherings is a powerful element of socialization. The article rejects this oft-developed idea according to which popular fervor could be an efficient tool to measure civic engagement. It raises the following question: what makes enthusiasm “civic”, “patriotic”, “republican” or simply “political”? Based on a study of French presidential tours in France from 1888 to 2007, this article casts a different light on the topic. The enthusiasm of the crowds interacting with the successive French presidents is not civic because an inquiry may find “patriotism” into participants’ minds. It can be called civic simply because the forms and meaning of the festive jubilation, which may be summarized into the formula: “if spectators applaud, it means they support,” necessarily preexist its multiple manifestations.     

Experiences of Women on Public Assistance

Although much has been written regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of the various antipoverty programs, very little information is available on the recipients' perceptions of and experiences with these programs. This article addresses this issue and presents qualitative results of interviews with 8 recipients of both cash assistance (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and in-kind assistance (e.g., Section 8 housing). The average age of the participants was 37.5; all were females with children from 2 to 5 years old. Overall, the major themes that emerged include lack of work programs, difficulties in forming a permanent family life with a partner, feelings of shame and disrespect, an insecure future, and a sadness regarding life's outcome. These findings suggest that antipoverty programs should focus not only on financial concerns but also on the individual's desire to be a contributing member of society.     

Dealing with the wicked issue of child poverty: Inter-organizational networks as forums for collective debate and reflection

In the international realm, inter-organizational networking is perceived as a highly relevant instrument in social policy that enables welfare organizations to deal with “wicked issues.” In this article, we discuss the central empirical findings acquired from a recent qualitative research project that focuses on inter-organizational networks that were formed at the local level to deal with the wicked issue of child poverty as a complex and multidimensional social problem. We explore how the network discussions about normative value orientations in four inter-organizational networks evolve, and identify three central fields of tension that illustrate the complexity for local welfare actors in and across networks to create network strategies in dealing with child poverty: (a) selective versus universal provision, (b) conditional versus unconditional strategies, and (c) instrumental versus lifeworld-oriented approaches. Our findings show that networks can function as valuable forums for collective debate and reflection, since different approaches and perspectives to tackle the problem of child poverty can be confronted with each other. Creating such a forum has the potential to challenge dominant conceptualizations and undesirable assumptions of complex social problems that are present in welfare practices and policies.