Archives mensuelles : février 2025

Inventing Value

Dave Elder-Vass (2024)

October 17, 2024
First talk of the Canadian Sociological Association Economic Sociology RC 2024-25 Speaker Series on “Confronting Contemporary Capitalism”.

YouTube

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Finding the Common Ground: Visibility, Cooperation and Tensions between Russian and Georgian Civil Society Initiatives in Tbilisi, 2023

Olga Bronnikova, Sofia Gavrilova & Tamara Margvelashvili (2025)

Problems of Post-Communism, Open access

Abstract. This article explores the coexistence of the Russian émigré community and Georgian civil society in Tbilisi and the tensions between them since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It analyzes how these interactions reflect broader post-colonial dynamics, particularly focusing on the differing political grammars and histories that shape both communities. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, the study highlights the complexities of this encounter, emphasizing the influence of historical narratives, collective action, and the post-Soviet socio-political context. The paper uncovers the nuances of visibility, integration, and mutual perceptions, ultimately contributing to the broader debates on post-socialist societies, migration, and civil society development.

Extract: “Conceptualizing Civil Society by Different Grammars of Collective Action in Former Soviet Spaces
The current research draws on a very specific mixture of political theory, sociology, and migration studies. First, this research looks into the way civil society in the former Soviet countries develops, and what are the grammars of collective action (civic, liberal, domestic) (Thévenot Citation2020) that started to develop in Russia and Georgia after the breakup of the Soviet Union. As Laurent Thévenot points out, when we communicate disagreement, which is often the foundation of collective political action, we need to rely on common forms in order to be understood by others. Pragmatic sociology, or the sociology of conventions, proposes to pay attention to the way in which intimate experiences and personal concerns are transformed into a common language that makes sense to others.” (p. 4)

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When the secondhand economy is not as good as it seems: understanding conflicts and their (ir)resolutions between users on secondhand resale platforms

Eva Cerio, Alain Debenedetti & Sophie Rieunier (2025)

Qualitative Market Research, 28(1), pp. 58-78

Abstract
Purpose.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) secondhand resale platforms (SRP) are competitive places where different value systems beyond market values interact. This study aims to investigate the conflicts that may arise in interactions between users on SRP and the extent to which these conflicts are (ir)resolved, by drawing on economies of worth theory.
Design/methodology/approach. The study takes a qualitative and interpretative approach to examine 22 active users on P2P resales platforms such as Vinted, including in-depth interviews. Following the Straussian view of grounded theory, the study uses constant comparison (open, axial and selective coding) to analyze data on SRP users’ experiences.
Findings. Drawing on the economies of worth theory, the study shows that SRP users rely on four different value systems or “worlds” when using the platforms (market, domestic, green and civic worlds) that come into conflict, at either an interactional (three conflicts identified) or an individual (two conflicts identified) level. The findings reveal that these conflicts are temporarily resolved at the interactional level and in a sustainable way at the individual level.
Originality/value. This study sheds further light on the relationship between consumers on SRP by offering a more nuanced perspective on these exchanges than market-oriented exchanges. It also analyzes the data through the economies of worth theory, which is an appropriate lens to better understand social interactions and conventions. Finally, the study offers recommendations on how managers can improve buyers’ and sellers’ experiences on these platforms and, thus, foster their satisfaction.

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Une aventure de la liberté, d’Ouest en Est: le Don Giovanni de Mozart selon Dmitri Tcherniakov

An adventure in freedom, from West to East: Mozart’s Don Giovanni according to Dmitri Tcherniakov

Laurent Thévenot (2024)

In: Ioulia Podoroga (ed.), Concepts migrateurs. Les lettres et les arts russes, espaces de circulations et de métamorphoses, Eur’Orbem Paris Sorbonne Editions, pp. 257-290

A propos de l’ouvrage. Comment les concepts philosophiques occidentaux se transforment-ils en imaginaire littéraire et artistique dans la Russie des XVIIIe-XXe siècles ? Comment des idées thématiquement proches émergent-elles dans la littérature et les arts, avant même d’être conceptualisées par les philosophes ? Ces deux processus s’entremêlent et enrichissent la pensée russe de cette période, laquelle s’incarne moins dans des systèmes philosophiques, au sens classique (occidental) du terme, que dans les écrits des gens de lettres ou des artistes.
L’objectif de ce volume est d’explorer cette spécificité, en examinant le mouvement entre les concepts philosophiques et les images artistiques et littéraires. Il inscrit ces échanges dans deux directions, en s’interrogeant d’une part, sur la façon dont la littérature ou l’art s’approprie les concepts pour les rendre concrets, palpables, et d’autre part, sur la manière dont les images se généralisent dans la pensée théorique, reflétant la complexité sociale et politique de l’époque.
On pourra suivre, au fil de la lecture, de multiples métamorphoses. Tantôt les concepts se voient littéralement mis en scène, comme celui de liberté dans l’opéra Don Juan de Dmitri Tcherniakov, tantôt une image (l’apollinien) est mise en question et détournée par son contraire (le dionysiaque), comme dans l’interprétation notamment des romans de Vladimir Nabokov ; tantôt un terme fraîchement implanté sur le sol russe devient un foyer de débats sociaux acharnés à la lisière de plusieurs disciplines, tel le terme d’aristocratie chez Léon Tolstoi.
Ont contribué à cet ouvrage Tatiana Smoliarova, Wladimir Berelowitch, Hélène Henry, Olga Drobat, Luba Jurgenson, Victoire Feuillebois, Claire Delaunay, Cécile Rousselet, Olga Skonechnaya, Rosina Neginsky, Olga Medvedkova, Ioulia Podoroga, Laurent Thévenot.

About the book. How were Western philosophical concepts transformed into the literary and artistic imaginary in eighteenth- and twentieth-century Russia? How do thematically related ideas emerge in literature and the arts, even before they are conceptualized by philosophers? These two processes intertwine and enrich Russian thought of this period, which is embodied less in philosophical systems, in the classical (Western) sense of the term, than in the writings of literary figures and artists.
The aim of this volume is to explore this specificity, by examining the movement between philosophical concepts and artistic and literary images. It takes a two-pronged approach, examining how literature and art appropriate concepts to make them concrete and palpable, and how images are generalized in theoretical thought, reflecting the social and political complexity of the times.
In the course of the reading, we can follow multiple metamorphoses. Sometimes, concepts are literally put on stage, such as freedom in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s opera Don Juan; sometimes, an image (the Apollonian) is challenged and hijacked by its opposite (the Dionysian), as in the interpretation of Vladimir Nabokov’s novels; sometimes, a term freshly implanted on Russian soil becomes the focus of fierce social debate on the edge of several disciplines, such as Leo Tolstoi’s term aristocracy.
Contributors include Tatiana Smoliarova, Wladimir Berelowitch, Hélène Henry, Olga Drobat, Luba Jurgenson, Victoire Feuillebois, Claire Delaunay, Cécile Rousselet, Olga Skonechnaya, Rosina Neginsky, Olga Medvedkova, Ioulia Podoroga, Laurent Thévenot.

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Contester par les chiffres : analyse des collectifs d’audit citoyen de la dette en France, en Espagne et en Belgique

The critical uses of numbers in activism: Citizen debt audit groups in three Western European countries

Jessy Bailly (2024)

Critique internationale, 2024/2 n°103

Résumé. Dans cet article, on étudie comment les chiffres sont utilisés par des militants issus de collectifs d’« audit citoyen de la dette locale » (en France, en Espagne et en Belgique) afin de critiquer la gestion par les gouvernants de la dette et des finances locales. L’article offre deux contributions. D’une part, on rend compte d’usages critiques des chiffres déjà repérés dans la littérature (alerter, critiquer les conventions comptables, introduire des indicateurs alternatifs), mais également d’usages encore non recensés mais bien présents chez les collectifs étudiés (imputer les responsabilités politiques par la quantification et pointer du doigt l’irresponsabilité des représentants politiques du fait de l’opacité des données à disposition du public). D’autre part, il s’agit d’éclairer, dans le prolongement des travaux d’Alain Desrosières et de Joel Best, le rapport aux chiffres de ces militants. Cela permet de rendre plus intelligible les usages hétérogènes et ambivalents des chiffres par les collectifs d’audit. On insistera sur certaines limites auxquelles ces activistes font face en recourant aux chiffres pour porter leur critique.

Abstract. This article examines the uses of official numbers by activists associated with groups involved in the citizen audit of local debt, in France, Spain, and Belgium, as a means to critique government management of local debt and finance, during the European debt crisis in the 2010s. The contribution of the article is twofold. Firstly, it delves into previously documented critical uses of numbers in the literature, such as issuing warnings, challenging accounting conventions, and introducing alternative indicators. However, it also highlights previously uncharted uses of numbers to challenge public authorities, which involve assigning political accountability through quantification and highlighting the irresponsibility of political representatives due to the opacity of publicly available data. Secondly, building upon the research of Alain Desrosières and Joel Best, the article seeks to illuminate the activists’ relationship with numbers (their numerical consciousness). This exploration aims to provide a deeper understanding of the diverse and ambivalent ways in which activists employ public numbers. Special attention is given to the constraints and challenges these activists encounter when using numbers to articulate their criticisms.

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Deutsche Übersetzung von zwei Texten von Alain Desrosières und eine Einleitung

Martin Herrnstadt & Léa Renard (2025): Alain Desrosières und die Praktiken der Enquête. [Alain Desrosières et les pratiques d’enquête]
A propos, 1. Open access
https://www.ouvroir.fr/apropos/index.php?id=177

Alain Desrosières (2025): Der Gegensatz zweier Formen der Enquête: Monografie und Statistik [L’opposition entre deux formes d’enquête : monographie et statistique, L’argument statistique I. Pour une sociologie historique de la quantification, Paris, Presses des Mines [copyright], 2008, S. 143–151]
A propos, 1. Open access
https://www.ouvroir.fr/apropos/index.php?id=178

Alain Desrosières (2025): Die Statistik: Instrument der Befreiung oder Instrument der Macht? [La statistique, outil de libération ou outil de pouvoir ?, Statactivisme. Comment lutter avec des nombres, Isabelle Bruno, Emmanuel Didier, Julien Prévieux (Hg.), Paris, La Découverte (Zones) [copyright], 2014, S. 51–66]
A propos, 1. Open access
https://www.ouvroir.fr/apropos/index.php?id=183

Consumption and reality testing: How do individuals justify the limits to their consumption efforts in the face of climate change?

Clément Dubreuil & Stéphane Borraz (2025)

Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), online first
L’article original dans l’édition française : ici

Abstract. This article aims to understand how the individuals justify the limits to their consumption efforts regarding environmental issues. We adopt an interpretivist approach, drawing on the theoretical framework of pragmatic sociology proposed by Boltanski and Thévenot. We contribute to the literature on the green gap by identifying the justifications put forward by individuals who seek to contribute to the common good. In particular, we show how they question the measurement of carbon footprints, i.e. the reality test that is supposed to assess the virtuous nature of practices. We also contribute to the literature on convention theory in marketing by exploring the justification of consumers with regard to a reality test. Finally, we propose a number of managerial recommendations. They aim to help create tools and attractive holistic narratives to push back the limits to consumption efforts.

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Fostering Sustainable Retail Business Innovations by Understanding Consumer Acceptance of Food Waste Reducing Business Models

Lisa Ruetgers, Jordon Lazell, Maureen Meadows & Elizabeth Bos (2025)

Business Strategy and the Environment, Online first, Open access

Abstract. The problem of food waste is increasingly being tackled via revenue-generating activities such as the retailing of surplus food products. Little scholarly attention has been paid to the role of the consumer in such business models, even though consumers’ perceptions and purchasing decisions are crucial to the acceptance of business innovations. This paper puts forward a process framework, informed by convention theory and legitimacy theory, to enhance understanding of ‘how’ consumer acceptance of such business models develops. Applying a multiple case study approach, this research investigates three case studies of ventures in Denmark and the United Kingdom illustrating models of surplus food reselling from retailers and manufacturers to consumers. The findings highlight three processes of acceptance: circumstantial, personal and community benefits and correspondence with social positioning. Aspects of price and convenience were the most influential in legitimising surplus food purchasing. Overall, the study makes an important contribution in demonstrating the market potential of surplus food.

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Moral disagreement in everyday life: An inductive framework for capturing ‘moral order’

Yongren Shi, Regan Smock & Steven Hitlin (2025)

Social Science Research, 127, 103139

Abstract. The study of morality outside of sociology can be improved, we demonstrate, with greater attention paid to aspects of situated interaction beyond abstract moral principles. We propose an inductive framework that focuses on the bottom-up, situationally framed aspects underlying moral disputes, including types of situational setting, contextual cues, and roles and relationships of involved parties. In clear-cut cases like murder, consensus on right or wrong emerges easily, influenced by either intentions or consequences. However, in complex moral disputes, situational conditions can significantly influence the valence and the degree of consensus of collective evaluation of morality. Drawing on over a million personal narratives from the online forum “Am I The Asshole?” (AITA), we present empirical analyses that build toward a “thick” understanding of moral evaluation (Abend, 2011). Our analyses find great variation in moral disagreements across settings, with those possessing strong situational norms reporting low disagreement about moral culpability; contextual cues lead to predictably divergent moral evaluations; and power disparities between involved parties resulting in blame more commonly assigned to those in power. We discuss the implications of the bottom-up framework for empirical research in sociology of morality.

Extract: “The third aspect we interrogate involves the relationally situated roles held by the parties involved in an event. The standards that comprise a moral order, as Goffman argues, are deeply rooted within shared understandings and exist beyond individual perception and cognition. We draw on the concept of ‘orders of worth’ (Boltanski and Thévenot, 1999) to explore how social relationships shape our understanding of a situated moral order.” (p. 4)

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Le compromis dans un groupe-projet pluraliste : les activités du courtier de Mondes dans l’élaboration de convention de compromis

Compromise in a pluralistic project-group : the activities of the broker of Worlds in the elaboration of a compromise convention

Corinne Grenier & Christine Dutrieux (2024)

Gestion et management public, 13(X). Online first, Open access (French & English versions)

Résumé. Notre recherche examine un groupe-projet d’un établissement de formation en travail social (EFTS), qui se saisit d’une nouvelle démarche d’intervention sociale pour initier des actions novatrices. Le contexte pluraliste de l’EFTS et sa difficulté à embrasser de nouveaux Mondes qui le pénètrent, nous amènent à mobiliser la littérature sur les Économies de la Grandeur. La perspective conventionnaliste développe la notion d’acteur compétent, capable d’élaborer des compromis, mais qui reste encore très peu étudiée par la littérature. Nous entendons répondre à ce « research gap » en nous intéressant aux activités déployées par la pilote du groupe-projet en formulant la question de recherche suivante : « Quelles sont les activités du pilote d’un groupe-projet en contexte pluraliste, enchâssé dans des mondes différents, qui conduisent les acteurs qui le composent à élaborer une convention de compromis pour lancer des initiatives novatrices ? ».
Pour appréhender cet acteur, nous mobilisons les travaux sur le courtier de connaissances et les objets frontières.
Le dispositif méthodologique s’appuie sur une observation-participante de l’un des auteurs, salariée de l’EFTS étudié. Le matériau ainsi collecté est complété par deux vagues d’entretien, sur la période 2018- 2022. Les données sont codées à partir d’un plan issu du cadre théorique d’analyse et de codes émergents.
Nos résultats nous permettent de définir la pilote du groupe-projet comme un « Courtier de Mondes » que nous définissons comme « un courtier de connaissances qui parvient dans un collectif pluraliste à générer une convention de compromis grâce à ses activités de circulation et d’enrichissement de la connaissance, de mise en relation et de socialisation des acteurs, de développement des compétences des acteurs, et par une activité de réflexivité sur les Mondes » (inspiré de Dutrieux, 2021).
Nous répondons à notre question de recherche de deux manières. Tout d’abord nous avons mis en évidence les activités constitutives du courtier de Mondes (en complément de la littérature) par l’importance de l’activité de socialisation et de communication entre les membres du groupe-projet en contexte pluraliste ; nous montrons également que le courtier de Mondes adopte une posture de « user push » pour ne pas imposer sa vision, mais encourager, par une activité de soutien à une réflexivité amenant les membres du groupe à faire sens des connaissances et pratiques au regard des différents Mondes, et à reconnaître leur altérité. Notre seconde contribution est d’identifier deux types de conventions de compromis, que nous appelons épistémique et pragmatique, la première offrant les éléments de langage pour soutenir les échanges et la communication nécessaires à la seconde. La formulation des compromis a été soutenue par l’échange autour d’objet-frontière.

Abstract. Our research examines a project group from a Social Work Training Establishment (SWTE), which uses a new social intervention approach to initiate innovative actions. The SWTE pluralistic context and its difficulty in embracing new Worlds that penetrate it, lead us to call upon the literature on the Economies of Worth. The conventionalist perspective studies the notion of a competent actor able to elaborate compromises, but this notion has not been studied thoroughly by the literature. We intend to respond to this “research gap” by looking at the activities deployed by the pilot of the project-group and formulating the following research question: “What are the activities of the pilot of a project-group in a pluralistic context, embedded in different worlds, that lead the actors who compose it to develop a compromise convention to launch innovative initiatives?”. To understand this actor, we draw on the work/research on knowledge brokers and boundary objects. The methodology is based on a participant observation by one of the authors, an employee of the SWTE under study. The material thus collected is supplemented by two rounds of interviews, over the period 2018-2022. The data are coded using a plan derived from the theoretical framework of analysis and emerging codes. Our results enable us to define the pilot of the project group as a “Broker of Worlds”, that we define as “a knowledge broker who manages, in a pluralistic collective, to generate a compromise convention thanks to his activities of circulating and enriching knowledge, networking and socializing actors, developing actors’ skills, and through an activity of reflexivity on Worlds” […]. We answer our research question in two ways. First, we highlight the constitutive activities of the broker of Worlds (complementing the literature) by the importance of the socialization and communication activities between project group members in a pluralistic context; we also show that the broker of Worlds adopts a “user push” posture to not impose his vision, but to encourage through his support of reflexivity leading the group members to make sense of knowledge and practices with regard to the different Worlds, and to recognize their alterity. Our second contribution is to identify two types of compromise conventions, which we call epistemic and pragmatic, the first offering elements of language to support the exchanges and communication necessary to the second. The formulation of compromises was supported by exchange around boundary objects.

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Zwischen Weltrettung und Marktfähigkeit

Ecopreneurs im Spannungsfeld von ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit, Unternehmertum und kapitalistischer Wirtschaft

Between saving the world and marketability
Ecopreneurs in the field of tension between ecological sustainability, entrepreneurship and capitalist economy

Eltje Gajewski (2025)

Marburg: Büchner Verlag. Open access.

Über das Buch. Ecopreneurs – Gründer:innen junger Startups mit ökologisch nachhaltigem Geschäftsmodell – gelten als Hoffnungsträger:innen der nachhaltigen Transformation der Gesellschaft. Mit der Verbindung von idealistischer Motivation, kreativem Denken und unternehmerischer Schaffenskraft, die ihnen in gesellschaftlichen, politischen und betriebswirtschaftlichen Diskursen zugeschrieben wird, entwickeln sie innovative Lösungen für ökologische Probleme. Mit nachhaltigen und zugleich gewinnbringenden Geschäftsmodellen harmonisieren sie scheinbar widerstreitende Ziele von Umweltschutz und Wirtschaftswachstum.
Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Untersuchung wurden 21 Ecopreneurs mitsamt ihren Startups über mehrere Jahre hinweg begleitet. Eltje Gajewski veranschaulicht, mit welchen Motivationsstrukturen, Orientierungen, Unternehmenspraktiken und Denkweisen Ecopreneurs ihre Gründungen angehen und wie sich diese in der Auseinandersetzung mit den äußeren Rahmenbedingungen verändern. Dabei treten verschiedene Konflikte mit Investoren, Stakeholdern, gesetzlichen Vorgaben und wirtschaftspolitischen Regularien zutage, die die Ecopreneurs typischerweise mit Kompromissen zuungunsten der ökologischen Aspekte ihrer Unternehmungen bearbeiten, um ihre Nachhaltigkeitsideale zu retten. Entgegen gängigen Annahmen über das innovative Potenzial des Kapitalismus zeigt sich, wie ökologische Disruptionen am und durch den Markt gebremst werden.

About the book. Ecopreneurs – founders of young start-ups with an ecologically sustainable business model – are seen as the beacons of hope for the sustainable transformation of society. With the combination of idealistic motivation, creative thinking and entrepreneurial creativity that is attributed to them in social, political and business discourses, they develop innovative solutions for ecological problems. With sustainable and at the same time profitable business models, they harmonize seemingly conflicting goals of environmental protection and economic growth.
In this study, 21 ecopreneurs and their start-ups were followed over a period of several years. Eltje Gajewski illustrates the motivational structures, orientations, business practices and ways of thinking with which ecopreneurs approach their start-ups and how these change in the process of dealing with the external framework conditions. This reveals various conflicts with investors, stakeholders, legal requirements and economic policy regulations, which ecopreneurs typically deal with by making compromises to the detriment of the ecological aspects of their ventures in order to save their sustainability ideals. Contrary to common assumptions about the innovative potential of capitalism, this shows how ecological disruptions are slowed down on and by the market.

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Overshadowed By Royal Roads: Vocationally Oriented MiddleSchools as Pathways to Higher Education in Switzerland

Raffaella Simona Esposito (2025)

Social Inclusion, Vol. 13, Open access

Abstract. In Switzerland, four different educational pathways lead to higher education (HE): baccalaureate schools, upper‐secondary specialized middle schools, vocational middle schools, and dual vocational education and training (VET) combined with a federal vocational baccalaureate. The four pathways are not equally supported by Swiss education policy: Baccalaureate schools and dual VET plus a federal vocational baccalaureate are politically treated as the two royal roads to HE, while specialized middle schools and vocational middle schools, in this study grouped under the term vocationally oriented middle schools (VOMS), receive only little political attention. This holds true even though VOMS have a high transition rate to HE and are considered to have the potential to bring young women into male‐typical HE programs and attract high‐achieving youths with a migration background. The study investigates from a governance perspective how (in practices and processes) the conception of the royal roads to HE is constructed and reproduced as well as how this affects the positioning of VOMS as pathways to HE in Switzerland. The study refers to the theoretical framework of the sociology of conventions and the concept of valuation practices. The data basis consists of publicly available documents and qualitative interviews. The findings show that commensurations, categorizations, visualizations, and the interplay between a variety of human and non‐human actors reinforce two highly stable and powerful cognitive formats of royal roads to HE. At the same time, these same practices construct an image of VOMS as less significant additional pathways to HE by rendering their qualities and potentials as such pathways comparatively invisible or tabooing them in the service of educational policy interests. With these findings, the present study contributes to the international scholarly discussion on permeability between VET and HE.

Extract: “From a functionalist perspective, society and the labor market demand a variety of educational qualifications, which in turn necessitate diverse educational programs, each with distinct characteristics. These characteristics, along with the corresponding qualifications, are assigned different meanings and values. This leads to the question of how the quality and value of educational programs are socially constructed. In contrast to the understanding of quality in common educational policy discourse (Hupka‐Brunner et al., 2015), the sociology of conventions framework (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006; Diaz‐Bone & de Larquier, 2022) does not view quality as something that can be determined ontologically, objectively, and universally. In this view, quality is rather the result of processes of attribution by actors on the basis of different orders of worth (quality conventions; for quality conventions in education see Imdorf & Leemann, 2023). Eymard‐Duvernay (2012a) has called this process of attribution “valuation.” In this context, Favereau (2017) emphasized that quality is the product not only of valuation processes but of devaluation processes as well.” (p. 7)

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The Conventionalist Approach in the Analysis of Unemployment

Alessandro Morselli (2024)

History of Economic Thought and Policy, 2024/2, p. 149-161

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to show the contribution of the conventionalist approach to the analysis of unemployment. The role of labor evaluations is highlighted. This approach leads to very different economic policy positions than those developed by neoclassical theory. Emphasis will be placed on microeconomic aspects, but in order to act in a macroeconomic context, i.e. that of conventions. In contrast to a Keynesian analysis oriented more on the quantitative problems of labor market disequilibrium, the effort here will be to show the importance of qualitative issues.

Keywords: unemployment analysis, coordination, quality conventions, evaluation operations, economic policy

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Standards and the Transformations of Modes of Governing: Perspectives from Convention Theory

Laura Centemeri & Carlotta Mozzana (2025)

In Rainer Diaz-Bone & Guillemette de Larquier (eds.), Handbook of economics and sociology of conventions. Cham: Springer, Online first

Abstract. Economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC), also known as convention theory, has long focused on standardization. Its founders played a significant, yet not entirely acknowledged, role in developing and establishing the predominantly Anglo-Saxon field of the sociology of standards. The EC/SC perspective on standards centers around the idea of “investments in forms,” developed by Laurent Thévenot as part of a material approach to power and the coordination of action. From a convention theory perspective, the chapter discusses the importance of standards in understanding neoliberal globalization. Standards are advocated by both market and nonmarket entities to achieve legitimate coordination, comparability, and compatibility, bypassing the regulatory authority of the state. Thus, governing with the support of standards transforms into governance through standards. In the first section, the chapter further explores Thévenot’s approach, focusing on his analysis of the neoliberal turn as standardizing liberalism. Thévenot’s framework is then compared with other perspectives on the political implications of standardization and, more broadly, quantification within the EC/SC tradition. The discussion then shifts to contributions in convention theory that deal with standards in specific policy areas, such as health, education, and urban planning. These policy insights show how measurable standards and certifications can radically transform economic sectors, everyday life, and ordinary experiences. They also highlight the complexity of current developments related to datafication and digitalization and the contribution EC/SC can bring to this debate.

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French-Japanese Joint Meeting around the American Institutionalist John RogersCommons

French-Japanese Joint Meeting around the American Institutionalist John Rogers Commons was held in online in November 2 and 9, 2024. It contributed to activate the institutionalist and pragmatic sociologist network across France and Japan.

The meeting was organized by Véronique Dutraive (Lyon 2 University) and Takayuki Nakahara (Hannan University), inspired by the publication of French translation of J.R. Commons’ masterpiece, Institutional Economics 1934 (L’Économie institutionnelle: Sa place dans l’économie politique. Translation supervisors: Jean-Jacques Gislain and Bruno Théret. Garnier, 2024).

Presenters drew his economic-legal perspective, economic-ethic perspective, institutional evolution approach, and pragmatist approach. The participants eagerly exchange their knowledge on the multiple perspectives and approaches contained in Commons Institutional Economics. This knowledge will be presented in the annual meeting of Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics, March 22-23, 2025.

On the Economics of Convention (EC), Christian Bessy (IDHES ENS Paris-Saclay) and Kota Kitagawa (Kansai University) demonstrated the convergences between EC and Commons’ Institutional Economics (IE) on their viewpoints of the transformations of the employment relationship.

Working Paper of C. Bessy and K. Kitagawa is published in following URL :“John R. Commons and Convention Theory around the transformations of the employment relationship”, https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04896550

Whole program of the meeting is following:

French-Japanese Joint Meeting AROUND JOHN ROGERS COMMONS

Saturday, 2 November – Session 1

  1. Hiroyuki UNI (Otemon Gakuin University): John R. Commons’s Two-layered Theory of Reasonable Value
  2. Laure Bazzoli and Véronique Dutraive (Lyon 2 University): John Commons and John Dewey: a cross-fertilized reading
  3. Akihiro Abe (Otemon Gakuin University): The Conditions for a Reasonable Institution: Comparing the Positions of J.R. Commons and Amartya Sen
  4. Guillaume Vallet (University of Grenoble): John R. Commons and Sociology: More Than an Influence

Saturday, 9 November – Session 2

  1. Takayuki Nakahara (Hannan University): Basic Model of Evolutionary Institutional Economics on J. R. Commons’ Institutional Economics
  2. Christian Bessy (IDHES ENS Paris-Saclay) and Kota Kitagawa (Kansai University): Commons and Convention Theory around the transformations of the employment relationship
  3. Shingo Takahashi (Tokyo College of Transport Studies): Social Security Theory of John R. Commons
  4. Thierry KIRAT (CNRS): John R. Commons: A Legal Theorist