Le séminaire doctoral du 5 avril accueillera Anwita Dinkar, doctorante au CSO avec une présentation intitulée : Everyday legality: an empirical analysis of legal consciousness in India.

La séance se tient de 10h à 12h à la fois en présentiel à Sciences Po, en salle K.011 et en distanciel sur zoom.

Si vous souhaitez y assister, merci de contacter Samia Ben.

Résumé :

To understand the significance of law in society, it is important to empirically study the social foundations of law. How do ordinary people use and understand legality? What are their experiences with the law? How do people develop everyday legality? These questions become important in exploring the relationship of law with society, a fundamental of Legal Consciousness Studies, which is the theoretical foundation of this research. Reflecting on qualitative research conducted with three groups of cleaning workers: private domestic workers, cleaning workers in formal organizations, and public street cleaners, and carried out in different cities of India, the seminar presentation will highlight how workers perceive, experience, build, and shape legality in their everyday lives.

Within the intersections of sociology of law, work, and organizations, this presentation will outline how workers’ diverse socio-economic conditions become significant in their relationship with the law. We will look at conditions of employment, gender, class, caste, and affiliation with a legal intermediary as substantial structures in understanding this socio-legal relationship. The discussion will further highlight the role played by legal intermediaries in shaping and framing the legal consciousness of cleaning workers in India.

Le séminaire "Enseignement supérieur et recherche" de Sciences Po est organisé par le CSO sous la co-responsabilité de Jérôme Aust et de Christine Musselin. Il a pour objectif de permettre la présentation et la discussion de recherches menées en France, mais aussi en Europe et dans d'autres régions du monde, sur l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche.

Il s'adresse et est ouvert à tous les experts, praticiens, chercheurs, enseignants-chercheurs, doctorants, intéressés par ces questions. Les séances sont configurées autour d'un seul intervenant, français ou étranger, laissant ainsi une large place aux échanges. 

Webinaire jeudi 11 avril 2024 de 12h30 à 14h - Lien pour vous inscrire 

Gaële Goastellec, Professeure de sociologie à l'université de Lausanne, Suisse.

Citoyenneté, discrimination systémique et accès à l'enseignement supérieur 

Les inégalités dans l'accès à l'enseignement supérieur ont été analysées à travers une grande variété d'optiques. L'une d'entre elles, en cours de développement, repose sur le concept de discrimination structurelle ou systémique (par exemple, Blassel & al., 2022). Basée sur de multiples études de cas dans le temps et dans l'espace concernant les politiques et pratiques d'accès des universités (Goastellec, 2010, 2020a&b, etc.), cette communication vise à dévoiler ce que l'utilisation de ce concept peut mettre en évidence. Deux processus apparaissent particulièrement significatifs.

Tout d'abord, une telle conceptualisation nous invite à analyser les structures sociales contemporaines des sociétés européennes comme la conséquence d'un processus historique de hiérarchisation multidimensionnelle des individus associé à leur différenciation citoyenne. Les politiques et pratiques d'accès à l'université, en Europe et dans les empires coloniaux européens, ont largement contribué à ce processus. Ensuite, elle saisit l'effet de l'intersection des droits politiques, juridiques et sociaux sur la possibilité et la probabilité d'accès à l'enseignement supérieur. Ce faisant, elle interroge l'effet du cadre structurel sur les inégalités d'accès et permet ainsi d'identifier les processus macro-sociaux sous-jacents à ces discriminations.

Le séminaire doctoral du 12 avril accueillera Eva Bratman is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies in the Department of Earth & Environment at Franklin & Marshall College.

Titre de sa présentation :
(Dés)intégration des systèmes : politiques des pesticides et transitions agricoles.

La séance se tient de 10h à 12h à la fois en présentiel à Sciences Po, en salle du Conseil, 13 rue de l'Université et en distanciel sur zoom.

Si vous souhaitez y assister, merci de contacter Samia Ben.

Résumé :

Retirer les pesticides du système agro-industriel mondial constitue un défi de taille, en grande partie parce que les pesticides sont devenus essentiels à l’économie politique mondiale de l’agriculture et à la conception du système alimentaire mondial. Cette lecture et discussion se concentreront sur une ébauche du chapitre de mon livre (en cours d'écriture). Je plaide en faveur de changements majeurs dans la conception et la gouvernance des politiques agricoles afin de contrôler l’utilisation des pesticides et me concentre sur une étude de cas comparative des pesticides néonicotinoïdes aux États-Unis et dans l’Union européenne. Le chapitre aborde également les leviers des transformations agricoles, notamment les rôles complexes des sociétés agro-industrielles en tant qu’acteurs intermédiaires. Le projet de recherche plus vaste se concentre sur les politiques locales et mondiales de protection des pollinisateurs.

The Social-ecological dimension of the European Green Deal

Online Seminar - 25th April 2024, 10 am – 4.45 pm

Registration link

The 2019 European Green Deal (EGD) has been a quantum leap in the history of European climate policies. It gave unprecedented priority to the climate crisis, setting 2050 as a target for the decarbonization of European economies (European Commission, 2019). As ecological issues have gained salience, it is also becoming increasingly evident that both climate change and climate policies will generate a new wave of social risks for European welfare states to address, disproportionally impacting not only low-income households but also the lower middle class (Beaussier, Chevalier, Palier 2024). Since the publication of the EGD, a just transition policy framework – meant to “leave no one behind” in the green transition – has been gradually emerging at the EU level, with notable instruments including the Just Transition Fund and the Social Climate Fund (Zimmermann and Gengnagel, 2023; Graziano, 2023). Nevertheless, the EU’s weak interpretation of just transition is likely to be insufficient to meet the huge challenges ahead, since EU efforts only target the most urgent social impacts of the green transition (Sabato et al. 2023; Crespy and Munta, 2023). Furthermore, just transition policies should always be in line with the EU growth imperative, which problematically remains unquestioned, as the EU strives to make growth “green” through technological modernization (Laurent, 2021). To make matters worse, consensus around the European Green Deal seems to be fading in many parts of the political spectrum and sectors of society, with new “eco-social divides” on the rise, potentially pitting environmentalists against welfare enthusiasts (Otto and Gugushvili, 2020).

With the EU elections just around the corner and in the face of growing support for far-right parties and anti-green “countermovements”, it is more necessary than ever to reflect upon how to strengthen the EU just transition agenda, and how to redesign the European Green Deal towards a truly social-ecological model. In this respect, in the past few years, a growing academic interest in the interconnections between social and ecological challenges and policies has surfaced, bringing various scholars to build a Sustainable Welfare and Eco-social Policy Network (Mandelli et al, 2022). The aim of scholars in this network is precisely to study eco-social policies, which should allow us to address the new social risks related to climate change, by building a sustainable welfare that guarantees human needs within planetary boundaries (Bohnenberger, 2023; Gough, 2017). This objective often goes hand to hand with the promotion of a post-growth approach, seeking to reduce the ecological footprint of the welfare state, which is rooted in its growth dependence (Büchs and Koch, 2017).

The seminar aims to discuss the political challenges and perspectives for a social-ecological European Green Deal. Renowned scholars from the Sustainable Welfare and Eco-social Policy Network are invited to present their works in the framework of SciencesPo’s Socio-Ecological Transition Initiative (SET), which is coordinated by Anne-Laure Beaussier (CSO), Éloi Laurent (OFCE), Matteo Mandelli (LIEPP) and Bruno Palier (CEE). The seminar is sponsored by the To Be Project, funded by the European Union, and it is co-organized by CSO, CEE, LIEPP, OFCE in partnership with SciencesPo’s Atelier interdisciplinaire de recherches sur l'environnement and Institut pour les transformations environnementales. The ultimate goals of the seminar are to encourage exchanges between international academics and SciencesPo’s researchers interested in these interdisciplinary issues, as well as to inform the current political debate about the future of the European Green Deal. In this spirit, EU policymakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament and European trade unions will be invited to discuss the academic presentations.

The seminar is structured in three parts. In the first session, speakers will provide theoretical and normative perspectives about sustainable welfare and eco-social policies beyond growth. The second part will shed light on the political conflicts and coalitions connected to environmental and social policies. Third, and finally, we will discuss the social-ecological dimension of the European Green Deal, highlighting its potential and shortfalls.

The programm on the website

Formé en janvier 2021, notre collectif de recherche compte actuellement dix doctorant.es du Centre de Sociologie des Organisations (CSO) et du Centre de Recherche sur les Inégalités Sociales (CRIS) qui abordent dans leur travail la question du sens écologique que certain.es acteur.ices donnent à leurs pratiques. L’objet de notre collectif de recherche est de s’interroger sur la pluralité des sens donnés à ces notions, par les acteur.ices comme par les sociologues qui les observent.

Périodicité : Un mercredi par mois, en salle CS16 de 16h à 18h à Sciences Po au 1, place Saint-Thomas 75007 Paris.

Le séminaire est ouvert à tout.e.s sur inscription (obligatoire) en remplissant le lien suivant: https://forms.gle/dxiDy8VeWdC4LvRUA

Intervenant : Léo Magnin (LISIS/CNRS)

Titre : "La vie sociale des haies. Enquête sur l'écologisation des mœurs"

Résumé :

Alors qu’un consensus scientifique mondial ne cesse de documenter la dégradation du monde par les économies les plus « développées », les sciences humaines peuvent-elles rassembler les indices épars d’une écologisation des mœurs ? À l’instar de Norbert Elias qui élaborait sa théorie de la civilisation des mœurs à partir de la valse des crachats et des mouchoirs, il s’agit d’interroger le processus d’écologisation en allant contre la présomption d’insignifiance d’une chose ordinaire : la haie. Car ici aussi, dans les méandres des buissons qui bordent les parcelles agricoles, les dynamiques sociales, économiques et politiques pèsent de tout leur poids. Massivement détruites au lendemain de la Seconde guerre mondiale, les haies autrefois désuètes sont désormais réhabilitées en tant que réservoirs de biodiversité, brise-vents favorables au bien-être du bétail, formes bucoliques d’une campagne d’antan, ressources d’énergie renouvelable, puits de carbone à protéger, freins à l’érosion des sols et filtres régulant les eaux. Faite de requalifications multiples et parfois contradictoires, la vie sociale des haies éclaire les paradoxes et horizons d’une écologisation balbutiante.

The Social-ecological dimension of the European Green Deal

Online Seminar - 25th April 2024, 10 am – 4.45 pm

Registration link

The 2019 European Green Deal (EGD) has been a quantum leap in the history of European climate policies. It gave unprecedented priority to the climate crisis, setting 2050 as a target for the decarbonization of European economies (European Commission, 2019). As ecological issues have gained salience, it is also becoming increasingly evident that both climate change and climate policies will generate a new wave of social risks for European welfare states to address, disproportionally impacting not only low-income households but also the lower middle class (Beaussier, Chevalier, Palier 2024). Since the publication of the EGD, a just transition policy framework – meant to “leave no one behind” in the green transition – has been gradually emerging at the EU level, with notable instruments including the Just Transition Fund and the Social Climate Fund (Zimmermann and Gengnagel, 2023; Graziano, 2023). Nevertheless, the EU’s weak interpretation of just transition is likely to be insufficient to meet the huge challenges ahead, since EU efforts only target the most urgent social impacts of the green transition (Sabato et al. 2023; Crespy and Munta, 2023). Furthermore, just transition policies should always be in line with the EU growth imperative, which problematically remains unquestioned, as the EU strives to make growth “green” through technological modernization (Laurent, 2021). To make matters worse, consensus around the European Green Deal seems to be fading in many parts of the political spectrum and sectors of society, with new “eco-social divides” on the rise, potentially pitting environmentalists against welfare enthusiasts (Otto and Gugushvili, 2020).

With the EU elections just around the corner and in the face of growing support for far-right parties and anti-green “countermovements”, it is more necessary than ever to reflect upon how to strengthen the EU just transition agenda, and how to redesign the European Green Deal towards a truly social-ecological model. In this respect, in the past few years, a growing academic interest in the interconnections between social and ecological challenges and policies has surfaced, bringing various scholars to build a Sustainable Welfare and Eco-social Policy Network (Mandelli et al, 2022). The aim of scholars in this network is precisely to study eco-social policies, which should allow us to address the new social risks related to climate change, by building a sustainable welfare that guarantees human needs within planetary boundaries (Bohnenberger, 2023; Gough, 2017). This objective often goes hand to hand with the promotion of a post-growth approach, seeking to reduce the ecological footprint of the welfare state, which is rooted in its growth dependence (Büchs and Koch, 2017).

The seminar aims to discuss the political challenges and perspectives for a social-ecological European Green Deal. Renowned scholars from the Sustainable Welfare and Eco-social Policy Network are invited to present their works in the framework of SciencesPo’s Socio-Ecological Transition Initiative (SET), which is coordinated by Anne-Laure Beaussier (CSO), Éloi Laurent (OFCE), Matteo Mandelli (LIEPP) and Bruno Palier (CEE). The seminar is sponsored by the To Be Project, funded by the European Union, and it is co-organized by CSO, CEE, LIEPP, OFCE in partnership with SciencesPo’s Atelier interdisciplinaire de recherches sur l'environnement and Institut pour les transformations environnementales. The ultimate goals of the seminar are to encourage exchanges between international academics and SciencesPo’s researchers interested in these interdisciplinary issues, as well as to inform the current political debate about the future of the European Green Deal. In this spirit, EU policymakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament and European trade unions will be invited to discuss the academic presentations.

The seminar is structured in three parts. In the first session, speakers will provide theoretical and normative perspectives about sustainable welfare and eco-social policies beyond growth. The second part will shed light on the political conflicts and coalitions connected to environmental and social policies. Third, and finally, we will discuss the social-ecological dimension of the European Green Deal, highlighting its potential and shortfalls.

See the program 

A “Soft” Financialization of Social Policy? Calculating the Value of Social Investments in the United States and Finland

par Asa Maron, University of Haifa

Discutante : Anne-Laure Beaussier, CSO.

La séance du vendredi 26 avril se tient de 10h à 12h à la fois en présentiel à Sciences Po, en salle K.011 et en distanciel sur zoom. Si vous souhaitez y assister, merci de contacter Samia Ben.

Résumé : 

The process of financialization introduces financial ideas, logics and practices to non-financial and non-economic fields, yet little is known about the formation of expectations in non-financial contexts, and the factors that influence the variation of expectations. This study explores the formation of expectations in the context of the "social investment state" by studying new methods that enable policy actors to value social investments. The rise of the social investment policy paradigm represents a shift in the rationale and justification of social spending: from the neoliberal dictum that social spending for services and programs is undesirable, toward reframing specific forms of social spending as investments that are expected to yield future returns. Policymakers' ability to invest in new social programs requires a capacity to value such investments. The paper examines the development of such valuation capacities in the context of experimenting with the Social Impact Bond (SIB) model. SIBs are financial contracts in which private capital is invested in innovative social programs with governments providing a return depending on the degree of success. The production of SIBs requires policymakers’ intensive engagement, including many hours of studying financial rationales and techniques, and experimenting with them. As platforms of intense learning SIBs have broad policy implications.

According to the valuation approach, the work of valuation entrepreneurs and the methodology they develop and apply determine what is of value. We follow valuation entrepreneurs and their accomplishments in two very different states: the United States and Finland. We ask how a financialized mode of valuation becomes re-embedded in the context of social policymaking? And what are the outcomes of this process in the United States and Finland? To answer these questions, the study analyzes textual sources (e.g. official documents, grey literature) as well as semi-structured interviews with key protagonists. We argue that the valuation of social investment represents a “soft” process of financialization leading to hybrid outcomes. In the context of financial diffusion, policy actors adopted a "Return on Investment" approach. Demonstrating non-financial professionals’ capacity to advance financialization from below, remote from financial markets, is an important contribution. And yet, the financialization process remains partial. The selective adoption of financial conventions demonstrates the path-dependent role non-financial fiscal state logics continue to play in states' calculations of social investment.

The study shows and explains variation in the valuation of social investment in the US and Finland by showing how different valuation methodologies were constructed and legitimized in each institutional context. In the US, the valuation of social investment developed with an over emphasis on statistic rigor, failing to value plausible returns in the long-term future. Moreover, the calculation of return on social investment was limited, considering only cost-savings for the Federal government, and thus ignoring and devaluing potential gains to state and local governments. In Finland, valuation methods included (and thus gave value to) the long-term future, and paid greater attention to intangible outcomes for actors other than central government. Although the calculated value of social investment remained committed to the state’s fiscal interests, the financialization of valuation went further in Finland at the expanse of neoliberal commitment to unburden the fiscal state which was prominent in the US.