Contenu du sommaire : Sciences sociales et travail

Micheline de Felice, Nationalist Sentiment in Tito's Yugoslavia Faced with the failure of an economic and political system that threatens their power, the leaders of the three most developed Yugoslav republics are attempting to maintain their control at any price. As they have no credible political project, they have destroyed the federal system in favor of the creation of nation states, without hesitating to use armed force in the process. To justify themselves, they have incriminated the Tito regime as being tyrannical in relation to the national minorities. The inanity of these charges is revealed in the works of Yugoslav scholars. Nothing indicates that the present nationalist policies are enrooted in nationalist sentiments of a popular nature. The example of the Croatian nationalist movement of 1971 shows that nation must not be confused with state.

Frederik Mispelblom, The Social Sciences from Mission to Job In contrast to the idea developed in number 95-96 of L'Homme et la Société on the theme of "Mission et démission des sciences sociales", directed by Jean-Pierre Durand, it is possible that there is less a crisis within the social sciences than in the idea that we have of the social sciences. Far from having been removed from political or economic influences, certain currents , within the social sciences have been linked to business and political interests for a long time. But even the position of the "ivory tower" is far from disinterested. For this reason, critical debate about the social role of the social sciences is appropriate and necessary.

Sabine Erbès-Seguin, State and Employment : Public Intervention between Juridical Order and Economic Order Analysis of modes of intervention of the law concerning employment gives rise to different ways of classifying the workforce. Concepts developed by Max Weber and Claus Offe are useful in analyzing the complex relations between juridical order and economic order. As far as contracts are concerned, legal intervention has an influence on the working population regardless of whether classification is the intent. It is the juridical logic of the contract that dominates the relationship. However, as study of the example of layoffs shows, the economic factor can determine changes in juridical relations.

Monique Sélim, Ethnology and Enterprise In recent years urban anthropology has seen the emergence of an ethnology of the enterprise. Solicited by businessmen, ethnologists have found themselves in a radically new situation which has encouraged methodological, epistemological and ethical reflection. There is a need to carry out comparative ethnological work in the field of the enterprise because of its present hegemony, real or imaginary, which implies decisive global transformations. In recent years urban anthropology has seen the emergence of an ethnology of the enterprise. Solicited by businessmen, ethnologists have found themselves in a radically new situation which has encouraged methodological, epistemological and ethical reflection. There is a need to carry out comparative ethnological work in the field of the enterprise because of its present hegemony, real or imaginary, which implies decisive global transformations.

Christian Azals, Work and Political Recomposition : Reflections based on the case of Brazil The example of the Northeast of Brazil indicates how the appearance of new actors or new situations risk disturbing the existing order. Social heterogeneity cannot be reduced to a diachronic analysis the main limit of which is to obscure differences. The recomposition of politics is expressed in the interaction between work and life, public and private, and the continual construction of relationships between friend and enemy. It is the expression of the democratic form of society.

Maria Magdalena Chirico, Narration and communication : an Argentinian worker speaks... Interview with a former Argentinian agricultural worker allows the reconstruction of the daily life, working conditions and political attitudes of this social category. It is testimony providing concrete indications of the reality of class structure and mentality in a capitalist policy and productive system, characterized by relations of dependance.

Jean-Pierre Martignoni-Hutin, Madame Loto : Analysis of the Correspondance of Lottery Players Contrary to what one might think, the National lottery organized by La Française des Jeux is not seen as a game of pure chance. Analysis of the correspondance of lottery players indicates , that the lottery represents the fulfillment of certain psychological needs. For large numbers of people it represents a pause, a recreation, a special occasion offered by the game, but also solicited by the player. The lottery is for some people a way of redoing the unfortunate course of one's existence, and for others it is a way of improving everyday life.

Michel Vakaloulis, The Era of Flexible Accumulation : "Volatilization of Capital" and Massive Insecurity of Work From the middle of the 1970s, fordism has seemed to be weakening. The capitalist modernization strategies applied in order to remedy this situation are not simple or superficial adaptations but rather modify the structural framework of the fordist mode of regulation. These practices tend towards a new configuration of capitalism, theorized by the expression "flexible accumulation" and distinct from that of "post-fordism" (flexible specialization). The capitalist strategies of rationalization/flexibilization transform all the practices of fordist socialization, most immediately salary relationships and modes of structural fragmentation in the labor force. In this context, optimal mobility becomes the pivotal element of the new orthodoxy. Work becomes more flexible and capital becomes a "volatile" social relationship adaptations but rather modify the structural framework of the fordist mode of regulation. These practices tend towards a new configuration of capitalism, theorized by the expression "flexible accumulation" and distinct from that of "post-fordism" (flexible specialization). The capitalist strategies of rationalization/flexibilization transform all the practices of fordist socialization, most immediately salary relationships and modes of structural fragmentation in the labor force. In this context, optimal mobility becomes the pivotal element of the new orthodoxy. Work becomes more flexible and capital becomes a "volatile" social relationship.

Jean-Pierre Durand, Towards a Post-work Society ? What place does work have in our society and, especially, bow is its role changing ? The history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been dominated by a cultural model characterized by the centrality of work. To what degree has this centrality been called into question ? How important is the illusion brought forward by those who support the thesis of the inversion of social time ? New transformations will occur announcing the emergence of another cultural model, such as, for example, the "demonetarization" of money and a possible change in the nature of information