Circulation of reforms ideas and expertise by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Cahiers Internationaux De Sociologie, 2009
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Partout les consultants sont, au fil des années, à la fois plus présents et plus nombreux. Il nou... more Partout les consultants sont, au fil des années, à la fois plus présents et plus nombreux. Il nous est apparu nécessaire d’interroger de façon neutre la connaissance que nous avons des acteurs de conseil, de leur logiques d’action, de leur impact et de leur influence. Les consultants font-ils le monde ?…ou n’ont-ils aucun impact sur les changements structurels auxquels ils semblent participer ? dans la mesure ou leurs détracteurs leur font les deux reproches à la fois, il pouvait sembler logique de poser la question du pouvoir de ces acteurs nouveaux, secrets, rétifs à toute enquête pour certains d’entre eux.Les auteurs de ce numéro spécial sur les consultants examinent ces questions dans leurs articles, tous construits à partir d’enquêtes ou d’expériences empiriques, dans un souci d’objectivité et de lucidité nécessaires dans un secteur où la rhétorique et les discours prévalent souvent sur les données concrètes.
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Cahiers internationaux de sociologie, 2010
ABSTRACT L'article développe la thèse suivante : le phénomène évaluatif ses instruments e... more ABSTRACT L'article développe la thèse suivante : le phénomène évaluatif ses instruments et ses institutions nouvellement créées (agences de notation, agences d'évaluation, hautes autorités) sont à la fois les révélateurs et les opérateurs d'une transformation des rapports entre deux institutions en crise : L'État et les professions. S'inspirant de la trilogie des pouvoirs de Freidson (2001), l'auteur suggère d'analyser l'alliance actuelle entre marché et Etat tandis qu'une crise et une mutation des élites traditionnelles françaises (haute fonction publique, experts d'Etat, élites politiques) fragilisent l'alliance entre professions et Etat caractéristique de la construction de l'Etat social à la fin du XIX e siècle. The article develops the following hypothesis: the phenomenon of evaluation, its recently created tools and institutions (credit rating agencies, assessment agencies, national authorities) both reveal and operate a transformation in the relationship between two institutions in crisis: the State and the professions. Basing my approach on Freidson's (2001) trilogy of powers, I suggest an analysis of the present alliance between the market and the State, while a crisis and change in traditional French elites (high ranking civil servants, State experts, political elites) is weakening the alliance between the professions and the State characteristic of the social State at the end of the xixth century.
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Cahiers internationaux de sociologie, 2009
ABSTRACT SUMMARY : The article highlights the milestones of the transformations of state and publ... more ABSTRACT SUMMARY : The article highlights the milestones of the transformations of state and public sector reform expertise in France between 1980 and 2008. Until the eighties, French state reform experts belonged to the technocratic national elites and were trained as top civil servants, who found new ideas and methods of public modernization in their networks and clubs. From the nineties onwards, experts were provided more and more by international strategy and management consulting companies and global think tanks. Meanwhile, the conceptions of public sector reforms have converged to be eventually understood only as a managerial reform, using « New Public Management » approach. This induced the importation of private sector management devices and organizational forms in the French public sector. Our analysis concludes by questioning the stability of the traditional resources of French national public elites and their necessary evolution in a world where States reforms constitute a worldwide consulting market. Key Words: French intellectuals and Elites, State reform, « New Public Management », Management consultants, Michel Crozier
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Sociologie Du Travail, 2004
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Sociologie Du Travail, 2008
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the Futures of Work by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
In France the concept of flexibility has long been used in the social sciences and by economic an... more In France the concept of flexibility has long been used in the social sciences and by economic and political leaders. It first became popular in the 1980s when, as a result of the work done by the OECD in particular, France earned the reputation of being an unwilling pupil, a land of innumerable restrictive practices that were obstacles to higher productivity and economic growth. The first studies in France at the time, in sociology and labour economics, were designed to clarify and produce a more accurate definition of the term that had become popular with some, while provoking suspicion and irritation in others. Numerous typologies of flexibility were devised: quantitative versus qualitative, internal versus external, numerical versus functional; the impact of flexibility on each aspect of labour relations (organisation of work, skills structure, labour mobility, employee training, social security and related benefits) (Boyer, 1986) etc., was examined. As concerns the work environment in the strictest sense, some researchers imagined a new post-Taylorian model with the rise in the level of employee qualifications giving them greater autonomy at work. In the real world the situation was not quite so positive and flexibility was often associated with lack of job security. Having said that, these studies emphasise the extent to which flexibility in the labour market has many different facets and cannot be reduced to insecure or precarious employment. Both the situation in France and the frameworks used to analyse flexibility have evolved considerably over the last twenty years. Our paper aims to describe this transformation and defend a particular thesis: having examined the often contradictory diagnostics of flexibility in employment and the work situation, we intend showing that the phenomenon itself is essentially ambivalent. We use the Merton's definition of " Sociological Ambivalence " (Merton, 1976): " In its most extended sense, sociological ambivalence refers to incompatible normative expectations of attitudes, beliefs and behaviour assigned to a status (i.e., a social position) or to a set of statuses in a society. " (p.6). We first describe the situation that formed the background to the various debates on flexibility in France, and then present empirical data in support of our thesis.
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Globalization and Precarious Forms of Production and Employment, 2010
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Un travail sans limites ?, 2012
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Gender's Epistemology by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Empan, 2010
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Revue française de science politique, 2014
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Historical Sociology and Sociological Theory by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
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Socio, 2013
ABSTRACT The emergence of a “new sociology” which would provide a space for the consideration of ... more ABSTRACT The emergence of a “new sociology” which would provide a space for the consideration of culture as a force for change in society has been a subject for discussion in the United States since the 1990s. On this foundation, a trend of thought usually referred to as “cultural sociology” suggests reconsidering and uniting sub-disciplines such as political sociology, the sociology of collective action or economic sociology. In the light of a similar methodological approach which would not be restricted to the study of actors and structures, North American cultural sociology invites us to consider together meanings, actions and institutions. The article examines the origin of this current of thought in the United States, which has been steadily developing for a decade and its possible contribution to a reflection on power, domination and social change.
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Global Governance and transnational Firms by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Sociologies Pratiques, 2005
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In France the concept of flexibility has long been used in the social sciences and by economic an... more In France the concept of flexibility has long been used in the social sciences and by economic and political leaders. It first became popular in the 1980s when, as a result of the work done by the OECD in particular, France earned the reputation of being an unwilling pupil, a land of innumerable restrictive practices that were obstacles to higher productivity and economic growth. The first studies in France at the time, in sociology and labour economics, were designed to clarify and produce a more accurate definition of the term that had become popular with some, while provoking suspicion and irritation in others. Numerous typologies of flexibility were devised: quantitative versus qualitative, internal versus external, numerical versus functional; the impact of flexibility on each aspect of labour relations (organisation of work, skills structure, labour mobility, employee training, social security and related benefits) (Boyer, 1986) etc., was examined. As concerns the work environ...
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Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation, 2010
This paper investigates the employment challenges facing the fast-expanding IT services sector in... more This paper investigates the employment challenges facing the fast-expanding IT services sector in Europe and contributes to debates about what policy reforms are required to nurture the so-called knowledge economy. The IT services sector is highly ...
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Circulation of reforms ideas and expertise by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
the Futures of Work by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Gender's Epistemology by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Historical Sociology and Sociological Theory by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann
Global Governance and transnational Firms by Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann