Books & Ideas is the English-language mirror website of La Vie des Idées, a free online journal which has gained a large readership and established itself in France as a major place for intellectual debate since 2007.
Since the two World Wars, the victim has been raised to the status of a sacred and predominant figure in historical memory. The victim has become the new figure of the hero, thus setting a new and controversial example.
As multilateral cooperation is increasingly under attack, Katerina Linos challenges certain misperceptions about the role of international institutions, particularly the European Union, and emphasizes their capacity for action in times of multiple crises.
Why do we believe that our societies are freer, more prosperous or more democratic thanks to the institution of private property rather than in spite of it?
By shedding light on alternative ways of life that have hitherto been kept in the shadows, Constance Rimlinger shows that ecofeminist utopias are a reality that seeks emancipation from capitalism and patriarchy.
About: Christine Détrez, Crush. Fragments du nouveau discours amoureux, Flammarion
About : Julie Pagis, Le prophète rouge, La Découverte
About: Julie Madon, Faire durer les objets. Pratiques et ressources dans l’art de déconsommer, Les Presses de Sciences Po
A rumour is circulating in some African countries: the French state is organising penis thefts to offset declining fertility. The rumour, spread by Russian propaganda, has become fake news.
The American sociologist Harrison White made a vital contribution to the development of social network analysis. Besides his work in this field, his theoretical synthesis and his understanding of social formations have influenced a variety of fields such as the sociology of art and economic sociology.
Ukraine’s water networks have been mobilized since the start of the war in 2014. Infrastructure workers are some of the last to leave settlements attacked by the Russian army. Water systems and people are resisting but are reaching the limits of their capacity to adapt to violence and disruptions.
In this virtual roundtable published in partnership with Public Books, six contributors from France, Russia and the US address the issue of contemporary Russia and its often tense relations with the West.
Food is now a conspicuous topic, from culinary blogs to magazines, diet books, TV shows and contests. Yet unbeknownst to many, it often holds an underground, clandestine place in some of social science’s major works. This dossier assesses the current importance of such scholarly endeavors, known as “food studies” in the United States.
How do images shape our worldview ? What do their study bring to our understanding of society ? Through interviews, essays and reviews this dossier shows how the close study of still or moving images has become central to the social sciences. From anthropology to history or literature, taking into account the overwhelming presence of visual representation yields unexpected and original information about human, social and political relationships.
Richard Hoggart (1918-2014), a poor child who went onto become a university professor, was the epitome of a successful scholarship student. The trajectory of this “exemplary counter-example” sheds light on the mechanisms of social reproduction when they prove inoperative and the distance that can be traveled from one’s native milieu.
According to Nancy Fraser, the renewal of socialism requires a conflation of activism and political theory; indeed, emancipation can only exist on the basis of equal participation in all spheres of life, and can only be understood in terms of social struggles, which today appear in multiple forms.
Rorty made conversation a philosophical genre in its own right, which led him to reject any distinctions he considered futile: between analytic and continental philosophy, between the Enlightenment and postmodernity, between philosophy and literature.
Dans un Chili en transition, le gouvernement de Gabriel Boric qui affiche son intention de lutter contre les inégalités sociales se heurte à une remontée de l’extrême droite. Simple réaction à une politique de gauche, ou retour du spectre de Pinochet ?
Les espaces marins étudiés par l’anthropologue Fabien Clouette montrent comment l’humain et l’animal cohabitent. Ce dernier est alors tantôt renvoyé à sa nature sauvage, tantôt à des caractéristiques anthropomorphisées.
La mésoéconomie s’intéresse à l’articulation de choix individuels en projets collectifs, processus central pour penser le changement et accompagner les transitions sociétales.
À propos de : Par inadvertance. La « cuillère humaine » de Fernand Deligny, L’Arachnéen
À propos de : Patrick Geary, Comment la génétique réécrit l’histoire du Moyen Âge, CNRS éditions
À propos de : Annette Lareau, Enfances inégales. Classe, race et vie de famille, ENS Éditions
