Contenu du sommaire : Figures de l' « auto-émancipation » sociale

Larry Portis, The Tarzan Syndrome : On the Emancipation and Domestication of Human Beings Is the conditioning of human behavior such in industrial-capitalist societies that people have lost any aspiration for alternative ways of living ? Have they been so "domesticated" by their successive masters that they have lost any desire or will to achieve indépendance ? In fact, we know little about the interaction between biology and the environment. But questions concerning « human nature » are more open than ever, and it is impossible to separate them front political life.

Claudie Weill, The Journal Autogestion as a Chronider of Liberation Movements For a period of twenty years (1966-1986), the journals Autogestion, Autogestion et socialisme, then Autogestions accompanied — preceeding and following — the liberation movement which called for workers 'self-management. Through analysis of its precursors, contemporary practices and historical precedents, the journal was a conceptual tool capable of inspiring action. Its disappearance coincided with the abandonment of the reference to workers ' self- management in socio-political movements, although the aspiration it represented continues to exist.

Jean-Marie Vincent, Critique of Economic Determinism and Economic Determinism in the Work of Marx In spite of ideas to the contrary, Marx was highly critical of the economic determinism typical of capitalist society. This is especially clear in the critique he made of the wage-earning class and of productive relations. However, Marx did at times lapse into economic determinism, most notably when in debate with classical political economy.

Gilbert Achcar, Liberalism and the Legacy of Babeuf at the Sources of Marxism Haunted by their discovery of the primacy of the economic and social basis of society, while prioritising the standpoint of real equality over democracy, Marx and Engels let a deficit regarding the democratic political forms and institutions settle in their work. It is only in the latter part of their lives that they sought to make up for that deficit, due mainly to Marx himself who was deeply influenced by the French Revolution and the legacy of Babeuf. Engels, who had frequented the British working-class movement much earlier than his companion, expressed a different sensibility, more receptive to the influence of political liberalism. This difference stands out very clearly from the comparison between the two successive drafts of the Communist League's Manifesto, the first by Engels and the second by Marx.

Gérard Prévost, The Metamorphoses of the Key Idea of Emancipation By founding an analysis on Marx's intuitions, but rejecting historicism, it is possible to conceive of emancipation after marxism and to form an hypothesis capable of considering the primacy of the individual in relation to the collectivity. Such an approach analyses the metamorphoses of the conditions of social emancipation conceived of as emancipation from inherited violence, the historical product of evolution.

Robert Paris, Utopia and Science in the Socialist Imagination Study of the role attributed to phenomena such as magnetism and hypnosis reveals the existence of what can be called an "experimental Utopia" which, parallel to the debates which represent the crisis of marxism, dramatizes the incapacity of marxism to explain or describe the emancipation which it is supposed to usher in.

Pierre Rolle, Liberation of the Worker and Emancipation of the Employee in Labor Sociology The weakening of state regulation, the increase of unemployment and the decline of labor movements in the contemporary period have called into question the idea that the emancipation of wage workers can be obtained by state intervention. Labor sociologists are hesitant today to entertain explanations that were dominant in earlier decades, even though worsening conditions are revealing contradictions typical of those periods.

Sophie Wahnich, The Rail Workers Explain their Strike, and Make History In interviews carried out in Paris train stations from January to June 1996, railway workers spoke of their strike of November and December 1995. Is it possible to make history ? The experience of this strike, compared to popular movements in the eighteenth century and during the French Revolution, permits an exploration of this question.

Irlys Alencart Firmo Barreira, The Rediscovery of Brazil by the "Citizen 's Caravan" : Rituals and Political Symbols on the Occasion of the Electoral Campaign of 1994 Study of the political symbols present in the "Citizen 's Caravan" organized by the Worker's Party of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva for the presidential election of 1994 shows that links were created between spheres of cultural and politics. These relationships can be seen in the areas of the production of mechanisms of identification between the people and the candidate, the symbolism in this attempt to "discover" Brazil, and the construction of symboles and images as expressions of interest conflicts.