Contenu du sommaire

Pierre Naville : Towards social automatism The author wonders whether the automatisation of production and communication, in the cybernetic sense, does not contribute to the creation of technical systems whose autonomy assumes some of the characteristics of natural spontaneity. Relying on the opinions of scientists, such as N. Wiener and O. Morgenstern, and discussing the opinions of philosophers, such as Hegel and Heidegger, the author outlines the evolution of autonomous, automatic technical groups and their influence on social structure. Human groups can be led to shape their own autonomy on that of technical groups, which might tend to create a "social automatisation" of a new kind. Under such conditions, the classical notion of environment would give way to a unified combination of technical and human aggregates.

Yves Legoux : The concept of the technician and sociology In French the word 'technician' has many different meanings which reflect varied socio-professional status in the technical function. A psycho-sociological study of the main aspects of the technical function must necessarily begin with a study of the technical environment according to the definition of Georges Friedmann.

François-A. Isambert : Non-religions funerals and social classes. An analysis of the distribution of non-religious funerals in each Paris ward shows a similarity between this distribution and that of workers. Since the standard of living does not explain the fact sufficiently and since the political variable does not add anything to the problem, it can be assumed that there is a direct relationship between non-religious funerals and working-class status. The working-class, cut off from its rural origins, could have forged its own funeral customs.

Marie Moscovici : Social change in rural areas and the role of women. Using two examples, the author studies the role of women in the process of social change in rural areas. The first of these examples shows a case where technical modernization gives rise, among women, to a whole series of new behaviors. In the second example, the breaking up of a traditional environment leads women to question, and sometimes to repeat, the existing familial and social system.

Henri Raymond : Research in a vacation village The vacation village is a closed unit where a leisure society develops. This closed unit and the isolation of its participants make of leisure a way of life implicitly related to the patterns diffused by the mass media (press, radio, films). The rules of the leisure society do not abolish social obligations, but transform them and result in a new classification of social groups. This new structure reveals its implicit patterns through clothing, language and rites. Tangible Utopia is, at once, the leisure which begins in daily living and the leisure society, first dreamed about, and then lived.