Contenu du sommaire

Pierre Bourdieu : Historical and structural analysis of the sociology of religion. Sociology of religion and more specifically of ideologies is governed by the opposition between a certain tradition which considers religion as an instrument of communication and learning, i.e. as a structured and structuring system, and another tradition which emphasizes the political function of religious ideology. In fact, it is through its logical function of prescribing its structure to the mind, that religion fulfils the political function of maintaining the eternity of structures, i.e. the absolute of the relative and the legitimacy of the arbitrary and thus the domestication of the dominated.

Jean-Claude Chamboredon : Delinquency : an attempt at building up the object of study. This article is based on the statistical study throughout five years (using multivaried analysis) of a sample of young delinquants belonging to a Parisian suburb compared to young people of the same suburb. It deals with the different institutional levels: arrest, sentence and treatment, with the cases under observation and reeducation and the interviews with the treatment staff: policemen, educators, children's justice. Both the findings of the survey and the criticism of functionnalist, ecological and interactionnist analysis of juvenile delinquency are used to systematically describe the different determining factors of juvenile delinquency, especially through the analysis of the socialization conditions of each class, the effects of the particular structure of class relations, the effects of the repressive apparatus upon delinquency and the relation each class has with this apparatus.

Werner Ackermann and Renaud Dulong : The diffusion of scientific knowledge among adults. The authors have made the census of the research made in Europe pertaining to the diffusion of scientific knowledge. This field is governed by two different languages: on the one hand, diffusion is seen as an efficient instrument in acquiring the necessary learning for competence; on the other hand, it is analysed from the point of view of the social effects of a phenomenon which tends to maintain the hierarchy of knowledge within society. This differenciation serves as a key to the reading of sociological studies. It enables us to understand the context of the studies being done in this field.

Patrick Champagne : Television and its image ; the influence of social conditions of reception upon the message. In order to understand the meaning and the function given by the different social groups to television, one must break away from the frequently accepted representation of the public as an atomized mass of sets, and consider the structure of the group where the reception takes place. A priviledged instrument among the domestic pass-times, television contributes to strengthen a way of life centred on family life. The announcer seems objectively to play the role of giving to the television-message, meant for families in a family togetherness, a friendly, familiar and comforting aspect. Although television has a certain autonomy compared to the wide circulation press which is subject to specific economic pressures, it is nevertheless engaged in an almost total dependency relationship with the public's expectations. Because it is meant for a socially and culturally diversified public, television tends to convey a syncretic culture resulting from the combination of values and ideologies belonging to the working-class and the middle-classes, yet not entirely expressing the specific values and ideologies of one or other of these classes.