Contenu du sommaire

Michel Gollac : Reversed figures ? Why and how a meaning is given to statistical data. Statistics must be interpreted whether they are of administrative origin or from specific surveys. The interpretation of survey results is possible because the answers correspond to a general outline of thought or convention, and can partly be based on the figures themselves. Surveys on working conditions provide an example of this approach. The surprise caused by the 1991 survey which showed a sharp degradation since the previous survey in 1984, is at the origin of this question on the reasons for the evolution. Various causes related to the protocol of surveying are examined ; they most likely only had a limited impact. It is therefore necessary to look into the nature of the changes which have occurred in the state of the world observed through the survey : more objective working conditions, with different social processes ; intensification of work.

Nicolas Dodier, Isabelle Baszanger : Totalisation and alterity in ethnographical surveys. This article considers the crisis of totalisation in ethnography and the perspectives that are currently available to overstep it. It summarizes the major lines of "integrative ethnography" which has developed as a prolongation of social and cultural anthropology, around the idea of monographical totalisation. The article goes on to discuss the criticism it received and the new types of relation between survey and wiriting that have been explored in the narrative approach. It then imagines ethnographical practice which, by distinguishing between generalisation and totalisation, is put into place in the light of interactionism, then recent developments of action sociology.

Pascal Bressoux, Paul Coustère, Christine Leroy-Audouin : Multilevel models in ecological analysis : the case of research in education. Multilevel analyses are a recent development of mathematical modelling, adapted to the problem of ecological analysis in social sciences, in other words capable of producing the effects of surroundings on individuals' behaviour. The analyses originate from the need to give a reply to the question concerning the choice of the unit for analysis, each time data is in hierarchical form. One of the ideal fields for multilevel analysis is in the educational sector, where students' learning takes place in particular class and on particular premises. Showing progress from and econometric point of view, multilevel techniques offer an advantage concerning specification, as it is possible to model simultaneously the dimensions for efficiency and for equity in educational means. This article is particularly concerned with a comparison between the classical treatment and the multilevel treatment of the problem of ecological analysis, from both a theoretical and an empirical results point of view. It appears that there exists a wide field of application for multilevel analysis in educational evaluation, and more generally, in social science research. for efficiency and for equity in educational means. This article is particularly concerned with a comparison between the classical treatment and the multilevel treatment of the problem of ecological analysis, from both a theoretical and an empirical results point of view. It appears that there exists a wide field of application for multilevel analysis in educational evaluation, and more generally, in social science research.

Catherine Bidou-Zachariasen : Taking into account the "territory effect" when analysing urban districts. According to the leading analysis, the crisis in towns corresponds essentially to a shift in the "social question", which means that territorial dimensions cannot give an explanation to the "urban question" as it exists in contemporary France. Our point of departure is the hypothesis that dysfuntioning in certain districts of urban outskirts (those which are targeted specifically by "town policy") express above all the crisis of a certain type of territory, that of the "fordist residential area". While proposing a look at the history and running of this urban style in the light of economic regulation, it will be shown how much the crisis is out of phase with the current period. If the social phenomena which mark the urban crisis are caused by global effects (changes in the productive system), they are also to be interpreted in relation to local effects developed on a territorial basis ; this will be illustrated by means of data from a field survey. Based on a classical urban anthropological approach, in two districts socio-economically similar but belonging to totally different urban areas (one in a suburban ZUP, the other in an old centre which has been modernized), it will be seen how individual or family trajectories can organize themselves differently depending on the territory where they occur.

Philippe Masson : School children, their parents and school advisors in the career guidance process. This article, based on participant observation, a selection of interviews and analysis of administrative data, looks into the effects of the normal running of school on the development of student career guidance in secondary education. The article shows that career guidance methods are rather vague for working-class parents and students, and create a feeling of suspicion and skepticism. To a large extent, the careers chosen are the result of the conjunction between structural characteristics of the school and collective action. More precisely, the career choice depends on the number of places available in the different school programmes and on interaction between the school advisors and the users. The documentation collected leads to an analysis where the definition of a school career by the student is different to the career guidance generally proposed by the school.