Contenu du sommaire

Jean-Claude Chamboredon, Jean Prevot: Infancy as an occupation. Social definition of early childhood and differential functions of nursery-schools. Care-taking of young children is not the only function of nursery-schools and cannot alone explain the diffusion of pre-school enrolment: in order to understand their quick spreading it is necessary to take into account the cultural transformations which have led to the « discovering » of infancy as a pedagogical subject and to the invention of a specific pedagogical matter, i.e. a « child culture », necessary background for a specific educational need. The diffusion of the « children care-taking » need reveals a transformation in the family social functions in connection with urbanization and women's changing activities. Different indicators enable us to define two sets of causalities, the importance of which varies according to class origin; on one hand, the objective factors which determine the « children care-taking » need, and on the other hand, cultural factors leading to define infancy as a worthwhile pedagogical subject ? meaning both the discovery of infancy as a time of training and a new definition of the pedagogical role of early chndhood socialization agents. The analysis of the different cultural processes leading to the transformation of the social definition of infancy and to the change in the definition of mother's functions becomes thus the prime condition for the study of the differential functions filled by nursery-schools for the different social classes.

Pierre Birnbaum : Local power: from decision to system. Many approaches habe been made in the study of local community power structure. The author wishes to show that each one only deals with a part of reality. Positional analysis tends to limit the power to the function; decisional approach stresses an atomistic representation of the social system; developmental analysis rather leaves aside the ideology and the specific role of the polity; marxist analysis often ignores the specificity of the polity. The author also points out the possibility of applying systems analysis and nondecisional analysis.

Ad. W. M. Teulings : Models of organizational growth and development. The study of the growth and development of organizations is one of the less known areas of organizational sociology. The author investigates the quantitative and qualitative approaches of organizational development based upon an evolutionary theory (growth, adaptation and development models), and presents a political model of development, stressing that: 1) organizations develop as a conglomerate or coalitions of relatively autonomous parties with different views and projects; 2) the transformations of organizational structures are reactions of one part of the organization regarding the whole, and not the growth of the whole as such; 3) the analysis of the projects, more or less consciously held by each party, offers the best method of analysis of organizational development; 4) this type of analysis ? which is not neutral since it may help to create a more conscious social identity of the less powerful parties ? is at the same time, the only way to free the sociology of organization from its increasing triviality resulting from management bias, or from an uncontrolled sinking into social ideology.

Philippe Robert, Georges Kellens : New perspectives in the sociology of deviance. The analysis of eleven books published in the last decade ? although not an exhaustive review ? enables the authors to stress out the impact of stigma and interaction trends upon the recent orientation of the sociology of deviance and criminology. They show how the focus of interest has moved from action (the specifical differentiating characteristics of the deviant: physical constitution, personality or physical environment), to social reaction (only considered now as the explanation of his beeing different). Three trends are defined: a first one still largely influenced by a quasi- structuralism; another which attempts to synthetize risk attitudes; and a third one rather breaking up with the others. To conclude, they emphasize the contribution of the stigma and interaction trends and especially the need to operationalize them so as to avoid their fading into a mere criticism, sterile in the long run.