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.
Sandra Ristovska examines how images shape judicial reasoning and the new uncertainties introduced by AI and deepfakes. These technologies amplify longstanding problems of evidence, interpretation, and inequality before the law.
Jeanne Tsai and Batja Mesquita show how emotions are shaped by cultural logics that orient our relationships and judgments. Their conversation raises a broader question: what does it mean to understand others in culturally plural societies?
By tracing the history of the French word pute (whore), since the twelfth century, Dominique Lagorgette reveals the mechanisms of linguistic oppression at work in our societies.
A longstanding local historiographical tradition maintains that during the French Revolution, the politics of the city of Orléans were notable for their moderation. Yet this view ignores the presence of highly politicized factions, extending well beyond the revolutionary period.
About: David Copello, Les droits humains armés. Guérillas, dictatures et démocratie en Argentine, Presses universitaires de Rennes
About: Lan Jiang Fu, Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle, Hémisphères
About : Nadège Vezinat, Le service public empêché, Presses universitaires de France
The female silhouette – understood as the body’s visible form and socially perceived appearance – has long been shaped by social norms. In the age of social media, these norms are intensifying, prompting, in response, the rise of so-called “body-positive” movements.
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.
Books & Ideas is going on holiday for the summer, and will resume its publication schedule in September. In the meantime, we present to you a weekly roundup of our most recent essays and reviews. Our first summer selection features compelling interviews on subjects as varied as food and media studies, African-American history, quantum physics, Russian political culture, and Muslim-Jewish relations.
The economic crisis that has plagued a great part of the world since 2008 remains baffling as ever, all questions and no answers. Why not start by listing the former, and then imagine what the latter could look like?
Books & Ideas is slowing down for the summer and will be offering weekly selections of reviews and essays published over the last year. This week’s selection focuses on digital tools, their relationship to political power and capitalism.
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.
Leading 19th century statesman, political economist, architect of the 1860 commercial treaty between France and the United Kingdom, and campaigner for peace between European nations, Michel Chevalier had also been a dominant voice in the Romantic socialism of Saint-Simonianism: the eclectic nature of his thought would lend itself to a particular vision of Europe, forerunner of today’s European Union.
Among the recipients of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics was Elinor Ostrom, for her analysis of economic governance, especially in relation to the commons. While this choice took many in the profession by surprise, her life-long quest for an understanding of successful common property resource management holds important lessons for our future.
Sandra Ristovska analyse la manière dont les images façonnent le raisonnement judiciaire et les nouvelles incertitudes introduites par l’IA et les deepfakes. Ces technologies amplifient des problèmes anciens de preuve, d’interprétation et d’inégalités devant la justice.
Pourquoi l’Europe peine-t-elle à faire de sa puissance militaire un projet commun ? Derrière les débats institutionnels, depuis les années 1950, la construction européenne se heurte à une difficulté singulière : partager la souveraineté sans pouvoir pleinement partager les moyens de la défendre.
Toute sa vie, Albert Memmi n’a cessé de scruter les tensions qui le traversaient pour penser la judéité et le judaïsme, la colonisation et la décolonisation, les situations minoritaire et majoritaire, ou encore un sionisme propalestinien.
À propos de : Charlène Dihut et Mathieu Potte-Bonneville (dir.), Planétarium. Un atlas pour le monde à venir, Éditions du Centre Pompidou
À propos de : François Godicheau, Pierre Salmon, Mercedes Yusta, La guerre d’Espagne. 1936-1939. La démocratie assassinée, Tallandier
À propos de : Chantal Jaquet, Révolutions transclasses. Une nouvelle théorie de l’émancipation, Puf
