Luc Boltanski

Luc Boltanski (* 1940) is the leading figure in the new "pragmatic" school of French sociology (see: French Pragmatism). He is a professor at the [http://www.ehess.fr École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales] , Paris and the founder of the [http://gspm.ehess.fr/ Groupe de Sociologie Politique et Morale] .

He contributed to start the "political and moral sociology" framework. Political and moral sociology has gradually developed as a research programme –in the sense proposed by Lakatos– around a conceptual nucleus looking to construct a theory of action based on Durkheim's theory of moral fact, revising the inheritance of ‘methodological structuralism’ from the point of view of dynamics and processes. The research program stresses how, in many conflicts, the characteristics of the disputants change during the course of the conflict.

In the book he wrote with Laurent Thévenot, On Justification. The Economies of Worth, 2006, Princeton University Press, Boltanski argues that modern societies are not a single social order but an interweaving of multiple orders. Boltanski and Thévenot identify six "regimes of justification," systematic and coherent principles of evaluation. These multiple orders (civic, market, transcendence, fame, industrial, and domestic) are not bounded to particular social domains but coexist in the same social space -- as Boltanski and Thévenot persuasively demonstrate through a content analysis of texts used in managerial training in contemporary French corporations. Boltanski's current work explores a seventh "connectionist" regime (organized around the concept of flexible networks now prominent in the conception of "the Project") based on a systematic analysis of managerial science literature in the 1960s and 1990s.

In the book he wrote with Ève Chiapello, The New Spirit of Capitalism, London-New York, Verso, 2005, they develop the notion of "test" to indicate forms of conflict among the actors, with a variable degree of legitimacy . If the experiences following one another in conflict processes are legitimate, they firmly bind actors to claim the universality of their reasoning within certain limits, and to resort to a justifiable vocabulary of motives. However, legitimate tests are not always abundant in conflicts: tests which are not classified and which are not subject to the surveillance of a third party constitute forms of conflict which make it impossible to reach an agreement based on the merit of the argument, and thus establish a relation of force between the disputants. These are not tests of something, trials in which it is clear what the rules are and what is exactly put to trial, but they are tests of force. In this, therefore, conflicts are definable as sequences of tests subjected to a more or less rigorous classification, sequences of tests which activate an arena of actors made up of different scenes, each with its own timescale.

His work has significantly influenced sociology, political economy and social and economic history.

= Bibliography =

Most important works in English

*Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. 1983, "Finding One's Way in Social Space : A Study based on Games", Social Science Information, 22 (4-5), 1983, p. 631-680
*Boltanski, L., "The Making of a Class. Cadres in French Society", Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987.
*Boltanski, L., "Distant Suffering: Morality, Media and Politics", Cambridge University Press, 1999.
*Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. 1999, "The Sociology of Critical Capacity", [http://est.sagepub.com/ European Journal of Social Theory] , vol. 2, n° 3, August 1999, p. 359-378.
*Boltanski, L., "The Legitimacy of Humanitarian Actions and their Media Representation : the Case of France", Ethical Perspectives, vol.7, n° 1, 2000, p. 3-16.
*Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. 2000, "The reality of moral expectations: a sociology of situated judgment", Philosophical Explorations, vol. III, n° 1, 2000.
*Boltanski, L., Chiapello È., Ross G., Piore M. J., Reid D., Kogut B., "Forum: Le Nouvel Esprit du capitalisme", in French Politics, Culture & Society, vol. 18, n° 3, Fall 2000.
*Boltanski, L. 2002, The Left after May 1968 and the Longing for Total Revolution, in Thesis Eleven, 69: 1–20.
*Boltanski, L., Chiapello (Ève), "The New Spirit of Capitalism", London-New York, Verso, 2005
*Boltanski, L., Chiapello (Ève), "The role of criticism in the dynamics of capitalism" in: Worlds of capitalism: Institutions, Economics, Performance and Governance in the Era of Globalisation, Max Miller (Ed), Routledge, London, 2005
*Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L. 2006, "On Justification. The Economies of Worth", Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Other Works

*Boltanski (Luc), "Le bonheur suisse", Paris, Ed. de Minuit, 1966.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Prime éducation et morale de classe", Paris, EHESS, 1969.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Taxinomies populaires, taxinomies savantes: les objets de consommation et leur classement", Revue française de sociologie, 11(1), 1970, p. 34-44.
*Boltanski (Luc), Maldidier (P.), "Carrière scientifique, morale scientifique et vulgarisation ", Information sur les sciences sociales, 9(3), 1970, p. 99-118.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Les usages sociaux du corps", "Annales. Économies, sociétés, civilisations", 26(1), 1971, p. 205-233.
*Boltanski (Luc), P. Bourdieu e P. Maldidier, "La défense du corps", in Social Science Information, vol. 10, n° 4, pp.45-86, 1971
*Boltanski (Luc), "Puericultura e morale di classe", Firenze, Guaraldi, 1972.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La missione civilizzatrice della scuola: l' acculturazione dei barbari", in M. Barbagli, Scuola, potere e ideologia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1972.
*Boltanski (Luc), "L'espace positionnel : multiplicité des positions institutionnelles et habitus de classe", in Revue Française de Sociologie, vol. 14, n° 1, pp. 3-20, 1973.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), Castel (Robert), "Un art moyen : essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie", paris, Minuit, 1974.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), Castel (Robert), "La fotografia. Usi e funzioni sociali di un'arte media", Rimini, Guaraldi, 1976 (II ed: 2004).
*Boltanski (Luc), "Les banques de données dans le système statistique public", Actes de la Recherche en sciences sociales, janvier n°1, 1975.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La constitution du champ de la bande dessinée ", Actes de la Recherches en sciences Sociales, 1, 1975, p.37-59 .
*Boltanski (Luc), "Les usages sociaux de l'automobile: concurrence pour l'espace et accidents", Actes de la Recherches en sciences sociales, 2, 1975, p.25-49.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Pouvoir et impuissance: projet intellectuel et sexualité dans le Journal d'Amiel", Actes de la Recherches en Sciences Sociales, 5-6, 1975, p.80-108 .
*Boltanski (Luc), "Note sur les échanges philosophiques internationaux", Actes de la Recherches en Sciences Sociales, 5-6, 1975, p.191-199.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "Le titre et le poste: rapports entre le système de production et le système de reproduction", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 2, 1975, p.95-107.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "Le fétichisme de la langue", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 4, 1975, p.2-32.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "La critique du discours lettré", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 6, 1975, p. 4-8.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "La lecture de Marx: quelques remarques critiques à propos de Quelques remarques critiques à propos de "Lire le Capital", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 5-6, 1975, p.65-79.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "L'ontologie politique de Martin Heidegger", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 5-6, 1975, p.109-156.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "Le langage autorisé. Note sur les conditions sociales de l'efficacité du discours rituel", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 5-6, 1975, p.183-190
*Bourdieu (Pierre), Boltanski (Luc), "Le fétichisme de la langue ", Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 4, 1975, p.2-32.
*Boltanski (Luc), Bourdieu (Pierre), "Le sens pratique ", Actes de la recherche en Sciences Sociales, 1, 1976, p.43-86
*Boltanski (Luc), "L'encombrement et la maîtrise des "biens sans maître" ", Actes de la Recherches en Sciences Sociales, 1, 1976, p.102-109.
*Bourdieu (Pierre), Boltanski (Luc), "Les professeurs de l'Institut d'études politiques ", Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 2-3, 1976, p.66-69.
*Bourdieu (Pierre), Boltanski (Luc), " Un jeu chinois : notes pour une critique sociale du jugement ", Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 4, 1976, p.91-101.
*Bourdieu (Pierre), Boltanski (Luc), "La production de l'idéologie dominante ", Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 2-3, 1976, p.4-73.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Les cadres autodidactes", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 22, 1978, p.3-23.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Taxinomies sociales et luttes de classes. La mobilisation de "la classe moyenne" et l'invention des "cadres" ", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 29, 1979, p.75-105.
*Boltanski (Luc), "L'université, les entreprises et la multiplication des salariés bourgeois (1960-1975)", Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 34, 1980, p.17-44.
*Boltanski (Luc), "America, America... Le plan Marshall et l'importation du management ", Actes de la Recherches en Sciences Sociales, 38, 1981, p.19-41.
*Boltanski," Les cadres. La formation d'un groupe social", Paris, Minuit, 1982

*Boltanski (Luc), Darré (Yann), Schiltz (Marie-Ange),"La dénonciation", Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, n°51, mars 1984.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Bezichtigung und Selbstdarstellung: Die Kunst, ein normales Opfer zu sein", in Selbstthematisierung und Selbstzeugnis: Bekenntnis und Geständnis, Alois Hahn und Volker Kapp (Herausgegeben von), Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1987, S.149-169.
*Boltanski (Luc), Thévenot (Laurent), "Dir., Justesse et justice dans le travail", Cahiers Du Centre d'etudes de l'emploi, Paris, PUF, 33, 1989.
*Boltanski (Luc), "L'amour et la justice comme compétences. Trois essais de sociologie de l'action", Paris, Métaillé, 1990.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Sociologie critique et sociologie de la critique ", Politix, 10-11, 1990.
*Boltanski (Luc), Thévenot (Laurent), "De la justification. Les économies de la grandeur", Paris, Gallimard, 1991.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La souffrance à distance. Morale humanitaire, médias et politique", Paris, Métailié, 1993.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Dissémination ou abandon : la dispute entre amour et justice. L'hypothèse d'une pluralité de régimes d'action ", in Ladrière, *P., Pharo, P., Queré, L., La théorie de l'action. Le sujet pratique en débat, Editions du CNRS, Paris,1993, p. 235-259.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La présence des absents", Les cahiers de la Villa Gillet, n° 2, 1995, p. 51-71.
*Boltanski (Luc), Godet (M.-N.), Cartron (D),"Messages d'amour sur le Téléphone du dimanche", Politix, n° 31, 1995, p. 30-76.
*Boltanski (Luc), 1996, "Endless Disputes from Intimate Injuries to Public Denunciations", WP 96-2 in Networks and Interpretation, Department of Sociology, Cornell University.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Poème", Arfuyen, Paris, 1996.
*Boltanski (Luc), 1996, "Alertes, affaires et catastrophes ", in Boltanski L., Chateauraynaud F., Lemieux C., Torny D. (dir.), Alertes, affaires et catastrophes: logique de l'accusation et pragmatique de la vigilance, Actes de la cinquième séance du Séminaire du Programme risques collectifs et situations de crise, CNRS, Paris.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Critique sociale et sens moral. Pour une sociologie du jugement", in, Yamamoto, T., Andrew, E. G., Chartier, R., Rabinow, P., (eds.), "Philosophical Designs for a Socio-Cultural Transformation", EHESS, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Tokyo, 1999, p. 248-273.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), "Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme", Paris, Gallimard, 1999.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Une sociologie sans société?", Le genre humain, 1999-2000 , p. 303-311.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La cause de la critique (I)", Raisons Politiques, 3, 2000, p. 159-184.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La cause de la critique (II)", Raisons politiques, 4, 2000, p. 135-159.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La philosophie politique à l'âge de la biopolitique. À propos de Politiques de la nature de Bruno Latour", Esprit, juillet 2000.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Lo spettacolo del dolore", Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2000.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Chiapello (Ève), Befreiung vom Kapitalismus ? Befreiung durch Kapitalismus?", Blätter für deutsche und international politik, avril 2000, p. 476-488.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), "Comment interpreter les changement du capitalisme. Réponses à quelques critiques", in Sociologie du Travail, 2001.
*Boltanski (Luc), "El Amor y La Justicia Como Competencias", Amorrortu Editores, 2001.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), "Die Rolle der Kritik in der Dynamik des Kapitalismus und des normative Wandel", Berliner Journal für Soziologie, vol. 11, Issue 4, 2001, pp. 459-477.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), 2002, "Esclusione e sfruttamento: il ruolo della mobilità nella produzione delle disuguaglianze sociali", in Borghi (a cura di), Vulnerabilità, inclusione sociale e lavoro, Franco Angeli, Milano.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2002, "Nécessité et justification", in Revue économique, 53: 275-90.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Una nuova componente dello spirito del capitalismo", in Agalma - Rivista di studi culturali e di estetica, n° 3, 2002.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Chiapello (Ève), 2002, El nuevo espiritu del capitalismo", Ediciones Akal, Madrid.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La natura dei feti", in Agalma - Rivista di studi culturali e di estetica", n. 4, 2003.
*Boltanski (Luc), "*Boltanski (Christian), A l'instant", Léo Scheer, Paris, 2003.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), "Der neue Geist des Kapitalismus", UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Usages faibles, usages forts de l'habitus", in P. Encrevé e R.-M. Lagrave, Travailler avec Bourdieu, Paris, Flammarion, 2003.
*Boltanski (Luc), "Une sociologie toujours mise à l’épreuve", in Ethnographiques, n° 5, 2004.
*Boltanski (Luc), "La condition foetale : Une sociologie de l'avortement et de l'engendrement", Gallimard ; broché ; essai, 2004.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2005, "Gli attuali cambiamenti del capitalismo e la cultura del progetto", in Studi di Sociologia, vol. 43, n. 4, pp. 369-388.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2005, "Stati di pace. Per una sociologia dell'amore", Milano: Vita e Pensiero.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2005, "The Fetus and the Image War" in Iconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in Science, Religion and Art, pages 78–9.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2005, "Le mal, vue de gauche", in Revue d)'études théatrales, n. 9/10, pp.19-30.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), "The role of criticism in the dynamics of capitalism" in Welten des Kapitalismus- Institutionelle Alternativen in der globalisierten Ökonomie, Campus, Frankfurt/New York, 2005.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2005, "Déluge. Opéra parlé", in Le nouveau recueil, n. 77, pp. 12-54.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2006, "Déluge. Opéra parlé (suite)", in Le nouveau recueil, n. 78, pp. 5-18.
*Boltanski (Luc), [http://homepage.mac.com/tommaso.vitale Vitale (Tommaso) ] , 2006, "Una sociologia politica e morale delle contraddizioni", in Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, n° 1, pp. 91-116.
*Boltanski (Luc), *Boltanski (Christian), 2006, "Les Limbes", Editions M. F. Paris.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2006, "Vivere secondo progetti: il trionfo della labilità", in Vita e pensiero, n. 2.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2006, "Reponse", in Gardey D. (sous la direction de), Autour du livre de Luc Boltanski La condition fœtale, numéro à dossier de Travail, genre, société, n. 15.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2007, "La condizione fetale", Feltrinelli, Milano (prefazione di [http://homepage.mac.com/tommaso.vitale Tommaso Vitale] , traduzione di Lucia Cornalba.
*Boltanski (Luc), Claverie (Élisabeth), 2007,"Du monde social en tant que scène d'un procès", in Luc Boltanski, Élisabeth Claverie, Nicolas Offenstadt e Stéphane Van Damme (eds) Affaires, scandales et grandes causes. De Socrate à Pinochet, pp. 395-452. Stock, Paris.
*Boltanski (Luc), Claverie (Élisabeth), Offenstadt (Nicolas), Van Damme (Stéphane) (eds), 2007, Affaires, scandales et grandes causes. De Socrate à Pinochet, Stock, Paris.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2007, La souffrance à distance (II edition with a new post face and the new chapter: "La Presence Des Absents") Gallimard Folio essais, Paris.
*Boltanski (Luc), Chiapello (Ève), [http://homepage.mac.com/tommaso.vitale Vitale (Tommaso) ] , 2007, “La sociologia contro il fatalismo”, in Itinerari d’impresa, n. 11, pp. 231-237.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2008, "Autour de De la justification. Un parcours dans le domaine de la sociologie morale", in Breviglieri, M., Lafaye, C., Trom, D. (dir.), Sens critique, sens de la justice, Paris, Economica.
*Boltanski (Luc), Pierre Bourdieu, 2008, La Production de l'idéologie dominante, Paris, DEMOPOLIS.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2008, Rendre la réalité inacceptable, Paris, DEMOPOLIS.
*Boltanski (Luc), 2008, Nuits, Paris, ENS.

Works about Boltanski

*T. Bénatouil, A Tale of Two Sociologies: The Critical and Pragmatic Stance in Contemporary French Sociology, in [http://est.sagepub.com/ European Journal of Social Theory] , n° 2, pp. 279-396, 1999;
*Silber I., Pragmatic Sociology as Cultural Sociology: Beyond Repertoire Theory?, in European Journal of Social Theory, n° 6, pp. 427-49, 2003.
*Boltanski L., Vitale,T. 2006, "Una sociologia politica e morale delle contraddizioni", in [http://www.mulino.it/edizioni/riviste/scheda_rivista.php?issn=0486-0349 Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia] , n° 1, pp. 91-116.
*Wagner P., 1994, “Dispute, Uncertainty and Institution in Recent French Debates”, Journal of Political Philosophy, n° 2, pp. 270–289.
*Wagner P., 1999, “After Justification. Registers of Evaluation and the Sociology of Modernity”, [http://est.sagepub.com/ European Journal of Social Theory] , vol. 2, n° 3, pp. 341-57.
*Borghi V., Vitale T., 2007, "Convenzioni, economia morale e ricerca sociologica", in Borghi, Vando e Vitale (a cura di), Le convenzioni del lavoro, il lavoro delle convenzioni, numero monografico di Sociologia del Lavoro, n. 104, Franco Angeli, Milano.