Appropriation et régulation des innovations biotechnologiques : pour une comparaison transatlantique

This article analyzes two biotechnological innovations — the tests of tracking the genetic risks of diseases and the transgenic organisms — and explores the controversies concerning the status of these new knowledges and the ways there are applied. It shows how these innovations were received in a different way in the United States and in France. The market regulation, which is strong in the USA is problematic in France. It is marginalized by the professional regulation in the case of the genetic tests. And in the other case it is limited by the control of the state, which constitutes some resources for the mobilization of the civil society against transgenic organisms. Finally the comparison consolidates the hypothesis of the emergence of a new regime of production of the knowledge, specified by the tension between a “market” regulation and a “consumerist-civic” regulation.     

L’art des bergers et les moutons qualifiés Les figures sociales en jeu sur le marché agricole

On the basis of meticulous chronicles kept about the making of mutton in the Barèges valley in the French Pyrenees, this sociological study of markets examines changes in the complex relations formed between economic interests and local identities in farming. In the 1970s, pressure to standardize mutton for sale on a national market tended to efface the specific characteristics of local produce from this area in particular. In the 1980s however, producers tried to resist in various ways — direct sales in 1984, a brand name strategy in 1987 — against this loss of specificity in an undifferentiated marketplace. In 1995, a label of origin (AOC) was drawn up that not only singled out and stabilized local produce but also redefined groups of actors, ranging from producers who now focus on quality produce to consumers who increasingly look like gourmets searching for “originality”. Furthermore, this certification process led to closely linking the production and sale of produce to the promotion of a redefined local identity, which we might have imagined as being threatened owing to the expansion of business rationales.     

Nepal's Child Grant: A mixed‐methods assessment of implementation bottlenecks

This article evaluates the implementation of the Child Grant, one of the major social protection interventions in Nepal, and identifies bottlenecks that limit its ultimate effectiveness. On the whole, while delivery works for many beneficiaries, we found inconsistencies between the way the policy is laid out on paper, and the way it is actually implemented. Targeting efficiency is high, despite the wealth targeting criterion not being applied in practice. Owing to informal awareness‐raising campaigns, beneficiaries’ knowledge on registration, eligibility and entitlement is patchy. Payment levels vary and tend to be infrequent. These implementation bottlenecks limit the Grant's effectiveness and temper some of its impact potential.     

Little cash to large households: Cash transfers and children's care in disadvantaged families in Ghana

Social protection is widely considered to have a positive effect on children, including supporting improvements in nutritional, educational and health outcomes. Much less is known, however, about the impact of interventions on children's care. This article considers the impact of a social cash transfer targeted at poor households – Ghana's Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme – on child well‐being, quality of care and preventing children's separation from their parents as perceived by programme and non‐programme beneficiaries in a context of vulnerability, large households and widespread informal kinship care. Findings suggest that cash transfers can improve both material and non‐material aspects of well‐being and contribute to the quality of care and have the potential to prevent children's separation from their parents. At the same time, not all children appear to benefit equally, with non‐biological children being disadvantaged. The combination of large household sizes with programme design and implementation challenges, including low transfer amounts, a cap on the maximum number of eligible household members and poor sensitization and follow‐up, undermine the positive role that cash transfers can play.     

A multifactorial explanation of youth unemployment and the special case of Austria

One of the biggest challenges currently facing European society is the dramatically high level of youth unemployment. Commonly, political solutions and strategies can be found in those countries that have been able to keep youth unemployment low in spite of the financial and economic crises. Austria is such a case. On the basis of European Union Member State data, the article gives a multifactorial explanation of youth unemployment and asks whether these factors can explain relatively low youth unemployment in Austria. With the country's “youth safety net” presented in detail, it is shown that active labour market policy reduces youth unemployment in Austria. The article also points out the limitations of cross‐country comparisons of youth unemployment rates and proposes the use of a greater number of indicators. Finally, the article argues for economic policies to stimulate demand, which have to be based on a political and social commitment to full employment.     

Work histories and workers’ failure to satisfy pension contribution requirements: A comparison of Mexico and Uruguay

Comparing Mexico and Uruguay, this article examines the work history of workers and the challenges they face to satisfy the minimum contribution period for eligibility to receive a contributory old-age pension. Administrative data on work histories is used to formulate a survival model aimed at estimating hazard rates of entering and transitioning out of a given contribution status. This model is then used to perform a Monte Carlo simulation to forecast contribution histories. Results suggest that the hazard rate is negatively associated with the length of a worker’s spell in his or her current status and warn that, both in Mexico and Uruguay, a significant group of workers will find it difficult to gain entitlement to a contributory pension in old age. The manner in which each of these national systems has addressed the challenges associated with low contribution densities may explain the two countries’ very different coverage results.     

Les régimes de production des connaissances de la sélection animale. Ontologies,mesures, formes de régulation

This paper analyses the co-production of knowledge and socio-economic order in animal breeding. Is it possible to historicise analyses of the actor-network theory (ANT) and to show forms of pairing between knowledge production and sociopolitical order typical of a given historical period? Symmetrically, in an approach based on regimes of knowledge, how do we account for the differences that remain over a given period? Drawing on the differences in the exploitation of animal genetics in three production sectors (beef, pork, chicken), this paper analyses the diversity of the composition of the socio-(bio)technical methods of animal selection and the mechanisms for stabilising these methods. It also explains the relations with factors whose forms of existence do not depend only on local arrangements. In this way, one can move from local heterogeneous agencements to regimes of knowledge.     

L'évaluation par le client comme méthode de surveillance: les enjeux de la réputation numérique du travailleur à la lumière du Règlement général sur la protection des données de l'Union européenne

L'évaluation du travailleur par le client ou l'employeur ainsi que la publication des avis qui en résultent constituent une méthode de contrôle et de surveillance qui pose de multiples problèmes au regard du droit européen. Sous couvert d'une approche client, elle soumet le travailleur à une surveillance de tous les instants, qui va bien au‐delà de ce qui prévaut dans un cadre de travail classique. L'auteur examine les enjeux de la question à la lumière du Règlement général sur la protection des données de l'Union européenne (UE), qui fixe des limites très précises à la collecte et la publication d'informations concernant les travailleurs.