Archives mensuelles : août 2021

Demokratie stabilisieren und Bürger*innen stärken – zwei Seiten derselben Medaille?

Stabilizing democracy and empowering citizens – two sides of the same coin?

Reinhold Hedtke (2021)

PraxisForschungLehrer*innenBildung, Bd. 3 Nr. 3

Abstract. Der Beitrag diskutiert die politische Repräsentation und Partizipation von Kindern und Jugendlichen und den allgemeinen Zustand der politischen Bildung. Er thematisiert die Spannung zwischen sozialer und politischer Ungleichheit und dem Gleichheitsversprechen der Demokratie und begründet eine Akzentverschiebung hin zu einer interessenpolitischen Bildung für junge Menschen. Der Text unterstreicht die Kritikaufgabe der Wissenschaft, fordert ein Aufgreifen der Kritik der Leute und die Parteinahme der Fachdidaktik für Kinder und Jugendliche. Schließlich plädiert er für das Leitbild der schwierigen, unbequemen und gegenüber ungerechtfertigter Ungleichheit unnachgiebigen Bürger*innen.

“Die Kritik der Leute kann die Demokratie stabilisieren und stärken, wenn es so gelingt, sie zu verändern und zu verbessern. Der Soziologe Luc Boltanski und die Soziologin Ève Chiapello haben in ihrem Werk Der neue Geist des Kapitalismus die Macht der Kritik analysiert (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2003). Sie zeigen, wie Zyklen von Kapitalis-muskritiken immer wieder Transformationen des Kapitalismus angestoßen haben – Erneuerungen, die im Ergebnis das Überleben des Kapitalismus sichern. Renitente und radikale Kritik wird – so ist zu hoffen – auch die Demokratie zu Selbsterneuerungen zwingen, sie beim Überleben stützen und sie besser und womöglich anders werden lassen.” (p. 94)

Abstract. This paper discusses the political representation and participation of children and youth and the general state of civic education. It addresses the tension between social and political inequality and the promise of equality in democracy, and argues for a shift in emphasis toward interest-based political education for young people. The text emphasizes the critical task of science, calls for taking up the critique of the people and the partisanship of subject didactics for children and young people. Finally, it argues for the model of difficult, uncomfortable citizens who are unyielding in the face of unwarranted inequality.

“The critique of the people can stabilize and strengthen democracy, if it thus succeeds in changing and improving it. Sociologist Luc Boltanski and sociologist Ève Chiapello have analyzed the power of critique in their work The New Spirit of Capitalism (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2003). They show how cycles of critiques of capitalism have repeatedly triggered transformations of capitalism-renewals that, as a result, ensure capitalism’s survival. Renitent and radical critique, it is hoped, will also force democracy to self-renew, sustain it in its survival, and make it better and possibly different.” (p. 94)

Link to the article

Roda de Conversa com Laurent Thévenot sobre o livro “A Justificação: sobre as economias da grandeza (2020)” será realizada no canal do InEAC no YouTube

Conversation with Laurent Thévenot about the book “Justification: on the Economies of Greatness” will be held on the InEAC YouTube channel

No próximo dia 24 de agosto de 2021, das 11h às 13h, será realizada uma Roda de Conversa com o professor Laurent Thévenot sobre o seu livro em parceria com o professor Luc Boltanski, intitulado: “A justificação: sobre as economias da grandeza”, cuja tradução foi recentemente publicada pela editora da UFRJ e traduzido por Alexandre Werneck.
Na oportunidade serão abordadas as contribuições e inspirações a partir do livro “A Justificação” e a sociologia dos “regimes de engajamento” nas ciências sociais no Brasil e diferentes lentes e abordagens das mesmas em estudos empíricos em diferentes campos disciplinares.

On August 24, 2021, from 11am to 1pm, a round of conversation will be held with Professor Laurent Thévenot about his book in partnership with Professor Luc Boltanski, entitled: “On Justification: on the economies of grandeur”, whose translation was recently published by the UFRJ publishing house and translated by Alexandre Werneck.
The opportunity will address the contributions and inspirations from the book “The Justification” and the sociology of “regimes of engagement” in the social sciences in Brazil and different lenses and approaches to them in empirical studies in different disciplinary fields.

Link to the blog

Kunst en klimaat: een hedendaags dilemma

Art and climate: a contemporary dilemma

Lynn van Ewijk (2021)

MA thesis. Nijmegen: Radboud University

De opkomst van het cultureel ondernemerschap heeft de culturele sector veranderd. Naast de focus op de culturele en maatschappelijke missie die een culturele instelling vervult, wordt er ook aandacht besteed aan de zakelijke waarden. In dit onderzoek staan drie Nederlandse musea centraal die een eigen invulling hebben gegeven aan het cultureel ondernemerschap door relaties te onderhouden met bedrijven uit de fossiele brandstofindustrie. Dit is een sector waar maatschappelijke kritiek op wordt geuit omdat zij op een negatieve manier bijdragen aan de klimaatproblematiek. In de media wordt er aandacht besteed aan de relaties tussen culturele instellingen en de fossiele brandstofindustrie, maar ook activisten, zoals Fossil Free Culture NL, steken hun mening niet onder stoelen of banken. Medewerkers van drie musea, het Groninger Museum, het Drents Museum en NEMO, zijn geïnterviewd over de keuzes die zij maken, de waarden die zij belangrijk vinden en de manier waarop zij omgaan met de kritiek.

“Een belangrijk onderdeel van het uitvoeren van dit onderzoek is het toepassen van de Wereldentheorie van de sociologen Luc Boltanski en Laurent Thévenot (2006). Deze theorie biedt een theoretisch kader om de balans tussen de culturele en de zakelijke belangen van de casussen in kaart te brengen. De verschillende werelden kunnen toegepast worden om de legitimering van de culturele instellingen te verwoorden en duidelijkheid te scheppen over welke waarden belangrijk zijn. Om deze theorie toe te kunnen passen, wordt deze in een apart hoofdstuk uiteengezet en worden de verschillende elementen geïntroduceerd die van belang zijn voor het bepalen van de manier waarop de musea hun keuzes legitimeren.
De analyse aan de hand van de theorie van Boltanski en Thévenot wordt in dit onderzoek in eerste instantie gebruikt om de balans tussen de culturele en de zakelijke belangen van de musea in kaart te brengen. De werelden van de inspiratie, de domestieke wereld en de civiele wereld kunnen ingezet worden om de culturele belangen van de musea in kaart te brengen. De markt en de wereld van de industrie belichamen de zakelijke belangen van de musea. De wereld van de faam kan ingezet worden om zowel de culturele als de zakelijke belangen in kaart te brengen.” (p. 20-21)

Abstract. The rise of cultural entrepreneurship has changed the cultural sector. In addition to the focus on the cultural and social mission that a cultural institution fulfills, attention is also paid to business values. This study focuses on three Dutch museums that have given their own interpretation to cultural entrepreneurship by maintaining relationships with companies in the fossil fuel industry. This is a sector that has been socially criticized for contributing in a negative way to the climate issue. The media focus on the relationships between cultural institutions and the fossil fuel industry, but activists, such as Fossil Free Culture NL, do not hide their opinions either. Employees of three museums, the Groninger Museum, the Drents Museum and NEMO, were interviewed about the choices they make, the values they consider important and the way they deal with the criticism.

Extract: “An important part of conducting this research is applying the Theory of worlds of sociologists Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot (2006). This theory provides a theoretical framework to identify the balance between the cultural and business interests of the cases. The different worlds can be applied to articulate the legitimacy of the cultural institutions and clarify which are important values. To apply this theory, it is outlined in a separate chapter and introduces the different elements that are important in determining how the museums legitimize their choices.
The analysis based on Boltanski and Thévenot’s theory is primarily used in this study to identify the balance between the cultural and business interests of the museums. The worlds of inspiration, the domestic world and the civic world can be used to map the cultural interests of the museums. The market and the world of industry embody the business interests of the museums. The world of fame can be deployed to map both cultural and business interests.” (p. 20-21)

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Lost and found: transforming assistance at digital Deutsche Bahn

Jörg Potthast (2021)

DFG-Sonderforschungsbereich 1187 “Medien der Kooperation”
Working Paper. Siegen: Universität of Siegen.

Abstract. Paying close attention to the intricacies of the episode below, this paper sets out to reflect in situ a shift to digitizing “lost and found” services. Foreshadowing a more extensive study on a contemporary redistribution of assistance at Deutsche Bahn, it refers to a pragmatist tradition concerned with preserving the condition of voice. Following this vein, it faces a purist critical attitude – epitomized in the practice of economics (Orléan 2014), which defends market forces (“exit”) as a way to outperform voice in any situation of decline, decay or dissatisfaction (Hirschman 1970). Anti-elitist suspicions, brought to perfection by another branch of social sciences, have become a powerful ally of this position. Rather than criticizing elitism and privilege, however, the present contribution draws on ethnographic research which displays the ambiguity of privileged users’ encounters with assistants. Exploring ambiguous patterns in the practice of assistance, it seeks for a politics of pity which has been largely absent from current appraisals of digital sociality.

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Governar pelas Normas

Laurent Thévenot (2021)

Tradução de Daniela Velásquez Peláez
[Translation of « Governer par les normes ». In: Conein, Bernard/Thévenot, Laurent (1997), eds, Cognition et information en société (Raisons Pratiques 8). Paris: EHESS, pp 205-241]

Revista Antropolítica, 52, p. 36-69.

Resumo. Para dar conta de uma forma de governança fundamentada nos standards de qualidade e, mais geralmente, da política da informação formal, Laurent Thévenot reconsidera as noções de norma e de informação. A maneira na qual é regulamentada a qualidade e na qual são fixados os standards excede a distinção habitual entre as normas sociais, standards técnicos e normas de verdade. O autor diferencia os tipos de normalização em função dos “formatos de informação”, que são, eles mesmos, relacionados a diversos regimes de envolvimento e a diversas formas de coordenação. Se origina assim um fundamento novo para criticar a standarização.

Abstract. To account for a form of government embedded on quality standards and, more generally,  formal  information  politics,  Laurent  Thévenot  reconsiders  the  notions  of  norm  and  information. The way in which quality and standards are regulated and fixated exceeds  the usual distinction between social norms, standard techniques and true norms. The  author  distinguishes  different  types  of  normality  according  to  “information  forms”,  which  are,  themselves,  related  to  different  engagement  regimes  and  coordination  approaches.  It  is  originated  then  a  new  ground  for  criticizing  standardization.

Link to the article

Addressing Moral Concerns Raised by the Market. Review of “Élodie Bertrand, Marie-Xavière Catto and Alicia-Dorothy Mornington (eds), Les limites du marché – La marchandisation de la nature et du corps”

Review of “The Limits of the Markets – Commodification of Nature and Body”

Christian Bessy (2021)

Oeconomica 11(2), pp. 349-364.

Extract: “By questioning the construction of common values that allow one to call for justice, Picavet’s reflection can also be linked to the justification model developed by Boltanski and Thévenot (2006), who participated in the development of the economics of convention approach in France (Eymard-Duvernay, 2006; Diaz-Bone and Salais, 2011). These authors distinguish between different ways of constructing the “common good” (of “moving from the parts to the whole”), following a pluralist theory of justice that transcends communities. These principles of justice are in competition with each other, in the sense that in each justification, the other “common goods” are reduced to particular goods. Commitment to one common good has the consequence—as a kind of sacrifice—of limiting investment in other common goods. Thus, investment in the “market good” implies a constant search for commercial profit, without ever relying on tradition or on personal attachments specific to the “domestic good”. “Market logic”, in reference to Adam Smith’s political philosophy, allows the two concepts of “good” to be confused. The opportunism of the rich, through the business they do, contributes greatly to competition. Luxury thus benefits everyone, and the rich find selfish happiness not only in the enjoyment of their “goods”, but also in the multiplication of opportunities to trade, a multiplication considered as a “good” in the ethical sense.” (p. 360)

Link to the article

Eine „grüne Zukunft” für Kunststoffe? Die Entwicklung von Märkten für Biokunststoffe

A “green future” for plastics? The development of markets for bioplastics

Alexandra Hees (2019)

PhD thesis. Cologne: Universität zu Köln
Referent: Prof. Dr. Jens Beckert
Korreferenten: Prof. Dr. Sophie Mützel, Prof. Dr. André Kaiser
Tag der Promotion: 28.4.2020

Abstract. Die Studie rekonstruiert die historische Entwicklung von Märkten für Biokunststoffe aus einer wirtschaftssoziologischen Perspektive. Im ersten Teil werden die Entstehungsbedingungen alternativer Kunststoffvisionen dargestellt. Wie wurden „Biobasiertheit“ und „biologische Abbaubarkeit“ in der Kunststoffentwicklung zu potentiell wertvollen Produkteigenschaften? Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass sich die mit Biokunststoffen verknüpften Wertversprechen im Kontext kollektiver Krisendiagnosen im letzten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts herausgebildet haben, als bis dahin geltende Zukunftsnarrative brüchig wurden und sich neue Zukunftsnarrative formierten. Der zweite Teil der Studie analysiert, wie Unternehmen versucht haben, neue Marktbeziehungen für „grüne“ Kunststoffe aufzubauen und zu stabilisieren. Dabei stießen sie auf Widerstände seitens der Entsorgungswirtschaft, des organisierten Umweltschutzes und staatlicher Regulationsinstanzen. Die Studie argumentiert, dass sich Widerstände nicht allein verhindernd auf die Entwicklung von Märkten auswirken, sondern als Weichensteller für die Ausrichtung von Innovationsstrategien fungieren und Abgrenzungsfolien für den Entwurf alternativer Zukünfte bieten.

Extract: “Wie im theoretischen Teil der Arbeit ausgeführt, steht die soziologische Analyse von Wertzuschreibungs- und Bewertungsprozesse im Fokus der Économie des Conventions. Während Luc Boltanski und Laurent Thévenot in Über die Rechtfertigung (1984) sechs verschiedene Rechtfertigungsordnungen herausgearbeitet hatten, trugen spätere Arbeiten von Laurent Thévenot und seinen Co-Autoren (Lafaye und Thévenot 1993; Thévenot, Moody und Lafaye 2000) der Tatsache Rechnung, dass mit der Ausbreitung und Institutionalisierung des Ökologischen ein ‚grünes‘ Wertprinzip im kulturellen Repertoire moderner Gesellschaften an Bedeutung gewonnen hatte, auf das Akteure zurückgreifen, um ihren Standpunkt zu begründen, Kritik zu üben oder Wertigkeit zuzuschreiben. Dementsprechend ergänzten sie die Rechtfertigungsordnungen aus Über die Rechtfertigung um eine ‚grüne‘ Konvention, die zwar historische Vorläufer in den spirituellen, romantischen und sozialen Naturschutzbewegungen vorangegangener Jahrhunderte hat, sich aber vor allem seit dem Aufstieg der globalen Umweltbewegung in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts etablieren konnte (Diaz-Bone 2015: 148; Lafaye und Thévenot 1993; Thévenot, Moody und Lafaye 2000).” (87)

Abstract. The study reconstructs the historical development of markets for bioplastics from an economic sociological perspective. In the first part, the conditions of emergence of alternative plastic visions are presented. How did “biobasedness” and “biodegradability” become potentially valuable product properties in plastics development? The study shows that the value propositions associated with bioplastics emerged in the context of collective diagnoses of crisis in the last third of the 20th century, when previously valid narratives of the future became fragile and new narratives of the future were formed. The second part of the study analyzes how companies attempted to establish and stabilize new market relationships for “green” plastics. In doing so, they encountered resistance from the waste management industry, organized environmental protection and state regulatory bodies. The study argues that resistance is not the only factor preventing the development of markets, but that it also acts as a guide for the direction of innovation strategies and provides demarcation foils for the design of alternative futures.

Extract: “As stated in the theoretical part of the paper, the sociological analysis of value attribution and valuation processes is the focus of Économie des Conventions. While Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot had elaborated six different orders of justification in On Justification (1984), later work by Laurent Thévenot and his co-authors (Lafaye and Thévenot 1993; Thévenot, Moody, and Lafaye 2000) took into account the fact that with the spread and institutionalization of the ecological, a ‘green’ value principle had gained importance in the cultural repertoire of modern societies, to which actors resort to justify their point of view, to criticize, or to ascribe value. Accordingly, they supplemented the orders of justification from On Justification with a ‘green’ convention that, while having historical antecedents in the spiritual, romantic, and social conservation movements of previous centuries, has been able to eta-blish itself, especially since the rise of the global environmental movement in the second half of the twentieth century (Diaz-Bone 2015: 148; Lafaye and Thévenot 1993; Thévenot, Moody, and Lafaye 2000).” (87)

Link to the PhD thesis

Un essai de mise en relation des histoires récentes de la statistique et de la sociologie

An attempt to relate recent histories of statistics and sociology

Alain Desrosières (2021)

Cambouis, La Revue Des Sciences Sociales Aux Mains Sales, janvier. Open access.

Résumé. Une réflexion sur les relations entre statisticiens et sociologues ne peut se contenter de confronter des problématiques et des démarches, tant celles-ci semblent résulter de l’inscription institutionnelle, des trajectoires professionnelles des uns et des autres et des marchés de leurs productions respectives. L’histoire des deux groupes, en particulier, permet de comprendre leurs relations, ou absences de relations, actuelles et son étude est indispensable pour situer les apports et les limites des travaux de chaque groupe, limites inscrites dans les conditions sociales de formation, de recrutement, de carrière, de financement, etc. Ainsi le système statistique français s’est développé, depuis la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, en diverses étapes tendant à la constitution d’un réseau d’institutions, dont l’Insee est la principale, dotées simultanément de moyens importants, d’une certaine autonomie administrative et d’une compétence socialement reconnue, fondée en particulier sur un recrutement comparable à celui des corps à haut prestige social : ces divers traits ne sont pas réunis de façon similaire dans la plupart des autres pays. La sociologie française, pour sa part, héritière d’une tradition intellectuelle brillante, issue de la philosophie, a eu dans un premier temps une insertion universitaire. Puis, après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l’extension rapide du marché des diverses sciences sociales a simultanément accru les moyens de la sociologie et entraîné son émiettement, en raison de sa position relative par rapport aux autres sciences sociales (économie, démographie, d’une part, histoire ou ethnologie, de l’autre) et d’un développement, par le biais de la politique contractuelle, d’un grand nombre de centres de recherches de petite taille et de statut précaire : certains d’entre eux ont produit des travaux importants mais ne disposaient en général pas de relais institutionnels suffisants pour garantir leur suivi et leur reproduction. Une étude du développement concret des sciences sociales en France ne peut donc isoler un de ces deux ensembles, tant chacun d’entre eux a eu à se définir, au moins à certains moments, par rapport aux autres, comme le montrent l’examen historique et l’interview de quelques-uns des acteurs de cette histoire.

Abstract. A reflection on the relations between statisticians and sociologists cannot be limited to a comparison of problems and approaches, as these seem to result from the institutional registration, the professional trajectories of both groups and the markets for their respective productions. The history of the two groups, in particular, makes it possible to understand their current relations, or lack of relations, and its study is indispensable for situating the contributions and limits of the work of each group, limits that are in-scribed in the social conditions of training, recruitment, career, financing, etc. Thus the French statistical system has developed, since the end of the nineteenth century, in various stages tending to the constitution of a network of institutions, of which INSEE is the principal one, endowed simultaneously with significant means, a certain administrative autonomy and a socially recognized competence, based in particular on a recruitment comparable to that of bodies with high social prestige: these various traits are not combined in a similar way in most other countries. French sociology, for its part, inherited a brilliant intellectual tradition from philosophy, and was initially integrated into universities. Then, after the Second World War, the rapid expansion of the market for the various social sciences simultaneously increased the resources of sociology and led to its fragmentation, because of its relative position in relation to the other social sciences (economics, demography, on the one hand, and history or ethnology, on the other) and the development, through contractual policy, of a large number of small research centers with precarious status: some of them produced important work but generally did not have sufficient institutional relays to guarantee their follow-up and reproduction. A study of the concrete development of the social sciences in France cannot therefore isolate one of these two groups, since each of them has had to define itself, at least at certain times, in relation to the others, as the historical review and the interviews with some of the actors in this history show.

Link to the article

Réflexions sur la portée sociologique des diverses phases du travail statistique

Reflections on the sociological significance of the various phases of statistical work

Alain Desrosières (2021)

Cambouis, La Revue Des Sciences Sociales Aux Mains Sales, janvier. Open access.

Résumé. Les liens entre l’Insee et la recherche économique sont explicités et institutionnalisés depuis longtemps, en particulier au sein de l’Unité de Recherche de cet Institut, largement centrée sur des recherches économétriques. En revanche, l’apport de l’Insee à la recherche sociologique est plus rarement décrit, et encore moins revendiqué, dans la mesure où la plupart des enquêtes de l’Insee sont conçues à des fins d’éclairage de la gestion économique ou administrative, ou en vue des travaux de prévision utilisant les modèles de la comptabilité nationale, et non explicitement dans le cadre de recherches sociologiques. Pourtant, ces enquêtes et recensements ne constituent pas seulement une mine irremplaçable de données chiffrées pour les chercheurs, mais leur conception, leur préparation, leur réalisation, leur exploitation et l’analyse de leurs résultats sont autant d’occasions de poser, et souvent de résoudre, des problèmes sociologiques sur lesquels les « praticiens chercheurs » de l’Insee ont accumulé une expérience très grande : les difficultés rencontrées sont bien sûr « techniques », mais leur traitement implique une réflexion théorique que l’on voudrait suggérer ici très brièvement, en décrivant les six étapes qui découpent, en partie arbitrairement, les différentes phases d’une opération statistique.“

Abstract. The links between INSEE and economic research have been explicit and institutionalized for a long time, in particular within the Institute’s Research Unit, which is largely focused on econometric research. On the other hand, INSEE’s contribution to sociological research is more rarely described, and even less claimed, insofar as most INSEE surveys are designed to shed light on economic or administrative management, or for forecasting purposes using national accounting models, and not explicitly in the context of sociological research. However, these surveys and censuses are not only an irreplaceable source of numerical data for researchers, but their design, preparation, execution, use and analysis of their results are all opportunities to pose, and often to solve, sociological problems on which INSEE’s “research practitioners” have accumulated a great deal of experience: the difficulties encountered are of course “technical”, but their treatment implies a theoretical reflection that we would like to suggest here very briefly, by describing the six stages that divide, in part arbitrary, the different phases of a statistical operation.

Link to the article

La sociologia pragmatica francese: concetti, metodi, ricerche

French pragmatic sociology: concepts, methods, research

Enrico Caniglia & Andrea Spreafico (eds.) (2021)

Special issue of Società Mutamento Politica 12(23). Open Access.

Table of contents:

  • Enrico Caniglia & Andrea Spreafico: Introduzione. Una sociologia francese e un nuovo paradigma 
  • Cyril Lemieux: Uno sguardo altro sulla politicizzazione dei rapporti sociali. A proposito del lavoro concettuale della sociologia pragmatica 
  • Simon Susen:  Mysteries, Conspiracies, and Inquiries: Reflections on the Power of Superstition, Suspicion, and Scrutiny 
  • Mohamed Nachi: Un régime pragmatique de l’arrangement. L’en- deçà du public, l’au- delà du familier 
  • Laura Gherardi: Sul modello delle Economie della Grandezza (EG): un’entratura Alexander Bikbov: Which Place for Radical Trial in Genetic Structuralism and in Pragmatic Approach? 
  • Francesco Callegaro: Le devoir des sciences sociales. Cyril Lemieux et le durkheimisme pragmatique 
  • Cédric Moreau de Bellaing: The State, a Police Matter? What the Work of Internal Police Oversight Agencies Teaches Us about the State 
  • Stefania Ferrando: Le contraddizioni della generazione e le pratiche simboliche delle donne. La Condizione fetale di Luc Boltanski: una sfida per la sociologia pragmatica 
  • Enrico Caniglia: Mettere alla prova la sociologia pragmatica: le teorie cospirative come oggetto di ricerca 
  • Andrea Spreafico: Descrivere associazioni di entità in trasformazione 
  • Nicolas Dodier & Janine Barbot: Dispositifs et normativité
  • Lidia Lo Schiavo: Sociologia contemporanea, teoria critica, teoria sociale: il contributo di Boltanski. Una rilettura critica.

Link to the special issue

Empresários, interesses e ação política: uma crítica da dominação gestionária

Entrepreneurs, interests and political action: a critique of management domination

Sérgio Gini (2021)

PhD thesis. Sao Paulo: Universidade Estadual Paulista (2021-03-02) Advisor: Aluisio Almeida Schumacher

Resumo. O empresariado é um ator político, devidamente situado em um ambiente institucional e que interfere, de acordo com os padrões de justificação de sua ação coletiva, na vida política das cidades. Com base nesse pressuposto, estudamos a atuação do empresariado na cidade de Maringá, Paraná, a partir da organização do Conselho de Desenvolvimento Econômico – Codem, regulado por lei municipal em 1996, onde uma elite estratégica, recrutada na Associação Comercial local exerce o controle institucional e negocia politicamente com o poder público, fazendo de sua ação uma força produtora de consideráveis impactos nas variáveis sociais e econômicas do município a partir da elaboração de agendas políticas de desenvolvimento denominadas de Maringá 2020, Maringá 2030 e Maringá 2047. Essas agendas foram desenvolvidas a partir de técnicas de gestão empresarial passando a ser um modelo a ser seguido pelo Executivo de 1997 até os dias atuais. Este modelo de excelência na gestão é um contraponto à gestão pública e acabou alijando das discussões sobre o desenvolvimento econômico local outros atores que não fazem parte da elite dirigente, como por exemplo os movimentos sociais e o poder Legislativo. A tese que procuramos desenvolver é que em Maringá se estabeleceu uma forma de dominação gestionária, priorizando os interesses da elite empresarial em detrimento de outros projetos de cidade, buscando anular o conflito por meio do consenso institucional. Para a consecução dos nossos objetivos de análise utilizamos a teoria sociológica elaborada por Luc Boltanski, Laurent Thévenot e Ève Chiapello que consideram os modelos de justificação e legitimação das ações da elite empresarial baseada na Teoria das cités, cuja matriz analítica serve de referência para se construir um quadro com os principais valores, perfis e dispositivos que estão em jogo, nas situações em que se realizam as ações coletivas do empresariado, considerando que elas se estruturam em rede e visam, na opinião dos próprios empresários, à sua ampliação e aos benefícios para o bem da sociedade civil organizada. Desse modo, denominamos nesta tese a cité por Projetos como aquela que está estruturada em uma nova relação entre a cidade e as ferramentas de gestão, as mais variadas quanto possível, em ciclo marcado pelo tempo do mercado, o que impede investimentos críticos de outros atores sociais, uma vez que as políticas públicas de desenvolvimento econômico e social estão assentadas na lógica empresarial e concorrencial. Desenvolvemos ainda um aparato crítico, baseado no pensamento social de Boltanski, que desconstrói essa lógica apontando as assimetrias da dominação gestionária. Embora a pesquisa se estruture em um estudo de caso local, os projetos geridos pela elite estratégica de Maringá foram replicados em diversos outros municípios do Brasil tendo sempre o mesmo pano de fundo: a ação empresarial e a dominação gestionária.”

Abstract. The business community is a political actor, properly situated in an institutional environment and that interferes, according to the justification standards of its collective action, in the political life of cities. Based on this assumption, we studied the performance of the business community in the city of Maringá, Paraná, founded on the organization of the Economic Development Council – Codem, regulated by municipal law in 1996, where a strategic elite, recruited from the local Commercial Association, exercises institutional control and politically negotiates with the government, making its action a force that produces considerable impacts on the social and economic variables of the municipality from the development of political development agendas called Maringá 2020, Maringá 2030 and Maringá 2047. These agendas were developed from business management techniques becoming a model to be followed by the Executive Branch from 1997 to the present day. This model of excellence in management is a counterpoint to public management and ended up leaving other actors who are not part of the ruling elite, such as social movements and the Legislative Branch, out of the discussions about local economic development. The thesis that we seek to develop is that in Maringá a form of managerial domination was established, prioritizing the interests of the business elite over other city projects, seeking to cancel the conflict through institutional consensus. To achieve our analysis objectives we used the sociological theory developed by Luc Boltanski, Laurent Thévenot and Ève Chiapello who consider the models of justification and legitimization of the actions of the business elite based on the Theory of cités, whose analytical matrix serves as a reference to build a table with the main values, profiles and devices that are at stake, in the situations in which the collective actions of the business community are carried out, considering that they are structured in a network and aim, in the opinion of the businesspersons themselves, for their expansion and the benefits for the good of organized civil society. Thus, in this thesis, we define the cité as Projects as one that is structured in a new relationship between the city and the management tools, as varied as possible, in a cycle marked by the time of the market, which prevents critical investments from other actors social, since public policies for economic and social development are founded on business and competitive logic. We have also developed a critical apparatus, based on Boltanski’s social thinking, which deconstructs this logic by pointing out the asymmetries of managerial domination. Although the research is structured in a local case study, the projects managed by the strategic elite of Maringá have been replicated in several other municipalities in Brazil, always with the same background: business action and managerial domination.

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Interior complex: Design standardization in London’s housing

Seyithan Özer (2021)

A thesis submitted to the School of Architecture of the Royal College of Art for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
London, June 2021

Abstract. This thesis studies design standardization in London’s housing, understood as an interrelated set of standards and conventions that shape design outcomes towards specific forms. Working iteratively between theory and data, the thesis threads broader issues in housing – housing design, design governance, design quality – with an empirical study of housing designs in London at the dwelling unit scale.
Integrating literatures on housing policy and regulation, real estate, state-market relationships, architectural practice, standards and conventions, the thesis conceptualizes design standardization. The empirical focus of the thesis is London’s housing stock and its residents’ experiences and practices of home. To this end, the thesis draws from a mixed methods research that consists of a descriptive statistical analysis of the spatial patterns in a sample of unit plans from inner London’s housing stock (n=3,438), visual analysis of comparative floor plan matrices, an online survey with people living in London on their experience and use of their homes (n=234) and follow-up semi-structured interviews with some survey participants (n=22).
Built largely over the last two hundred years, London’s housing stock contains a variety of housing typologies. While new housing typologies designed for changing needs have emerged, older housing stock has been modified, subdivided, and converted. The research shows that existing housing interiors, in aggregate form evidence processes of standardization. Dwellings built in the past forty years, since the 1980s, show a high level of repetition in their dimensions and interior layouts. I argue this as the result of on the one hand a high-pressure housing market, a perpetual housing shortage and high land prices that all lead the market to function with strict design conventions, and on the other legislations, regulations, codes, and guidelines central and local governments introduce to sustain quality, affordability, and access. Dwellings from the older housing stock – terraced houses – show a wide variety of interior layouts. Despite this, however, there are spatial and organizational directions that emerge at the intersection of the architectural affordances of terraced houses, social change, asset-based welfare and permitted development.
Based on a study of residents’ experiences and domestic practices in relation to design patterns observed in London’s housing, the research also found that existing housing does not sufficiently meet current needs, preferences and occupancy patterns. The assumptions of use and home underlying standards and conventions fail to acknowledge changing domestic needs.
The thesis, studying London’s housing at their intersection, makes original contributions to architectural design, housing studies, infrastructure studies, and material geographies by developing a design standardization framework that incorporates standards and conventions, by constructing a novel dataset of existing housing stock and providing up-to-date data on the housing designs, by analysing residents’ domestic experiences and practices in London, and by analysing home alterations from a socio-technical perspective.

Extract: “This section of the thesis outlines the conventions of market-driven and creative stakeholders and discusses their interaction with standards. Drawing on the empirical studies conducted on different stakeholders involved in housing design, in this section I outline the conventions in housing design and development and their impact on design outcomes. In framing the conventions in housing design and development, studies in the Economics of Convention provide useful methodological approaches by recognizing the plurality of normative values. In particular, the works of sociologist Luc Boltanski and economist Laurent Thévenot on the role of conventions in economic decision-making and justification are of interest. Boltanski and Thévenot study collective cognitive forms that stakeholders use to coordinate, ‘criticize, challenge institutions, argue with one another, or converge toward agreement’.56 These collective cognitive forms, conventions, are essential not only because they help the process of coordination when formal standards and other institutionalized arrangements fall short or require interpretation, or where outcomes are uncertain, but also because actors base their critique of standards and institutional arrangements on them.” (p. 37)

Re-invent Yourself! How Demands for Innovativeness Reshape Epistemic Practices

Ruth I. Falkenberg (2021)

Minerva. Online first. Open access.

Abstract. In the current research landscape, there are increasing demands for research to be innovative and cutting-edge. At the same time, concerns are voiced that as a consequence of neoliberal regimes of research governance, innovative research becomes impeded. In this paper, I suggest that to gain a better understanding of these dynamics, it is indispensable to scrutinise current demands for innovativeness as a distinct way of ascribing worth to research. Drawing on interviews and focus groups produced in a close collaboration with three research groups from the crop and soil sciences, I develop the notion of a project-innovation regime of valuation that can be traced in the sphere of research. In this evaluative framework, it is considered valuable to constantly re-invent oneself and take ‘first steps’ instead of ‘just’ following up on previous findings. Subsequently, I describe how these demands for innovativeness relate to and often clash with other regimes of valuation that matter for researchers’ practices. I show that valuations of innovativeness are in many ways bound to those of productivity and competitiveness, but that these two regimes are nevertheless sometimes in tension with each other, creating a complicated double bind for researchers. Moreover, I highlight that also the project innovation regime as such is not always in line with what researchers considered as a valuable progress of knowledge, especially because it entails a de-valuation of certain kinds of long-term epistemic agendas. I show that prevailing pushes for innovativeness seem to be based on a rather short-sighted temporal imaginary of scientific progress that is hardly grounded in the complex realities of research practices, and that they can reshape epistemic practices in potentially problematic ways.

Extract: “In this paper, I explore in how far valuations akin to the project order as described by Boltanski and Chiapello can be traced in researchers’ discussions on demands for innovativeness in the current research landscape. However, I do not treat this framework as a blueprint to be applied to the sphere of research. Rather, I trace comparable tendencies in researchers’ narratives without attempting a full-fledged analysis of how the project order can be found in the academic world. Therefore, I developed, in dialogue with my empirical material, the notion of a project-innovation regime, to denote tendencies comparable to those identified by Boltanski and Chiapello in their analysis of management literature, but to foreground the particular focus on innovativeness that I adopt in this paper.
My conceptual approach is thus situated somewhere between studies that have applied pre-defined orders of worth (Boltanski and Thevenot 2006) as a framework to be traced in different societal spheres (e.g. Sharon 2018; Thévenot, Moody, and Lafaye 2000), and approaches that have empirically reconstructed regimes of valuation (Fochler, Felt, and Müller 2016) or registers of valuing (Heuts and Mol 2013) in a bottom-up manner (Dussauge, Helgesson, and Lee 2015; Helgesson, Lee, and Lindén 2016; Stark 2009). While I applied the lens of the project order, I also traced how it concretely played out in my empirical material, as what I call the project-innovation regime. Moreover, I investigated how valuations of innovativeness are related to, potentially in tension with, and being aligned with different value regimes that I identified to be of importance to the researchers I talked to in a bottom-up manner in the process of data analysis. For my analysis, I employ the notion of regimes of valuation, rather than repertoires or registers, since this concept most strongly highlights the discursive, material, and institutional embedding that concrete evaluative principles draw upon (see Fochler et al. 2016).” (p. 5)

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Institutional-political scenarios for anthropocene society

Andrew J. Hoffman & P. Devereaux Jennings (2021)

Business and Society, 60(1), pp. 57-94

Abstract. Natural scientists have proposed that humankind has entered a new geologic epoch. Termed the “Anthropocene,” this new reality revolves around the central role of human activity in multiple Earth ecosystems. That challenge requires a rethinking of social science explanations of organization and environment relationships. In this article, we discuss the need to politicize institutional theory as a means understanding “Anthropocene Society,” and in turn what that resultant society means for the Anthropocene in the natural environment. We modify the constitutive elements of institutional orders and a set of main change mechanisms to explore three scenarios around which future Anthropocene Societies might be built—Collapsing Systems, Market Rules, and Cultural Re-Enlightenment. Simultaneously, we use observations from the Anthropocene to expose limitations in present institutional theory and propose extensions to remedy them. Overall, this article challenges organizational scholars to consider a new paradigm under which research in environmental sustainability and social sustainability takes place.

Extract: “While scientists and environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) may play a role in articulating the concerns over climate change and other natural environment problems (Hoffman, 2011; Lefsrud & Meyer, 2012), the contested nature of these debates and the willingness of some to discount or outright reject the results of scientific analyses that contradict their worldview leaves the social dimension of Anthropocene Society woefully inadequate. In fact, some speculate that the introduction of nature by giving voice to nonhumans and future generations within the development of institutional orders creates challenges for the orders of worth framework (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006) as it requires which evokes notions of deep ecology (Lafaye & Thévenot, 1993).” (p. 64)

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