In 1978, Bourdieu and Saint Martin wrote a famous study, “Le patronat,” based on extensive corres... more In 1978, Bourdieu and Saint Martin wrote a famous study, “Le patronat,” based on extensive correspondence analysis of the French corporate elite. In this paper, we go back to their notion of “field of economic power” and apply their methodology to the 838 executive and non-executive directors of the CAC 40 firms in 2009. Rather than the types of capitalism, our analysis highlights the force of national tropes (titles and careers linked to the French state, and passage via the grandes ecoles), at the very moment when we hear of the effacement of family capitalism and a great openness toward the international.
For more than a century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of the centralit... more For more than a century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of the centrality of banks to corporate networks. In explaining this phenomenon, sociologists have principally focused on immediate financial relations between banks and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but have neglected what economic theory might contribute in terms of the role played by banks in financial intermediation and money creation. From such a theoretical perspective, we propose that the centrality of banks is better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the progressive disappearance of this phenomenon would indicate the rise of bureaucratic regulation by central banks and global financial institutions.
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
Development economics seems to rediscover the importance of domesticating violence as a condition... more Development economics seems to rediscover the importance of domesticating violence as a condition of democratic empowerment. According to the theoretical framework developed by North, Wallis and Weingast (NWW), developing countries are defined as limited access orders that reduce the violence potential of powerful elite organizations through the manipulation of economic rents and the negotiation of more or less stable elite coalitions. NWW's framework must be credited for reintroducing social orders in economics' research agenda; allowing for different paths to development, and highlighting violence and conflict as a central force in societies. In this paper, we first go back to the discussion of two main challenges in NWW's theory and methodology. The first one is their pluralist understanding of open access societies. The second is the way they link micro-level behavior to macro-political changes. We show here that, though alternative strategies could be followed, the ...
La mondialisation conduit-elle ineluctablement a l'uniformisation de la vie economique, socia... more La mondialisation conduit-elle ineluctablement a l'uniformisation de la vie economique, sociale et culturelle? Les processus de diffusion de normes universelles s'imposent-ils a des acteurs qui se contenteraient de les decliner localement sans peu ou pas les modifier ? Sans nier la puissance des processus de convergence et d'uniformisation associes a de nouvelles formes de centralite - des marches financiers, des firmes multinationales ou des villes globales, l'objectif de cet ouvrage est de mettre l'accent sur les contre-tendances inscrites dans les dynamiques societales et propose une analyse critique des processus de mondialisation qui mettent en tension les parametres fondamentaux du rapport salarial et de son analyse societale. Etudiee a partir des transformations du travail, de l'emploi et des competences, la mondialisation apparait comme un assemblage de processus parfois convergents, souvent chaotiques, sources de desynchronisations, et qui percutent ...
Cette introduction au dossier propose un retour sur l’histoire entremêlée de l’État et de la scie... more Cette introduction au dossier propose un retour sur l’histoire entremêlée de l’État et de la science économique au XX e siècle. Elle interroge la manière dont l’affirmation de l’État comme acteur économique s’est articulée avec l’institutionnalisation de l’économie comme discipline académique et avec l’extension des objets de celle-ci à l’étude de la puissance publique elle-même. La contribution des savoirs économiques à la construction de l’État est envisagée dans le cadre du dossier à l’échelle des instruments d’action publique qu’elle a contribué à forger aussi bien que des représentations plus générales (souvent concurrentes) qui en sont issues et qui contribuent à légitimer les transformations de son périmètre d’intervention. La présentation des contributions – centrées sur la France, mais aussi la Russie (post)soviétique et les organisations internationales – permet de questionner à nouveaux frais les redéfinitions du rôle (économique) de l’État jusqu’au « tournant néo-libéra...
Recent tensions in Franco-German relations concerning the debt crisis in Europe or the clashes wi... more Recent tensions in Franco-German relations concerning the debt crisis in Europe or the clashes within EADS governance seem to have undermined Franco-German relations. This may of course nurture criticism of the very idea of Franco-German friendship. Talking about Franco-German friendship, Peter Sloterdijk (2009, p. 9) recently stated [that] there can be no relations between them and that their relationship which is officially set out in a treaty of friendship is, at best, what could be described as benevolent mutual disregard or benign estrangement between two former partners in love — and why not also then between two former partners in hate.
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
Ce numéro de Cultures & Conflits est issu d’une table ronde organisée dans le cadre du 12ème cong... more Ce numéro de Cultures & Conflits est issu d’une table ronde organisée dans le cadre du 12ème congrès de l’Association Française de Science Politique, en juillet 2013, et porte sur la sociologie politique des « élites transnationales ». Loin d’accepter l’idée d’une méritocratie émergeant de la diversité sociale, ou d’une oligarchie se reproduisant à travers des capitaux sociaux et familiaux, ce numéro interroge ce qui se joue dans la formation de positions dominantes qui se reproduisent d’une génération sur l’autre, et ce malgré des transformations profondes des enjeux internes de chaque univers social particulier. Comment circulent les mécanismes qui assurent certains modes de reproduction et comment sont-ils compartimentés, nationalement ou professionnellement? Comment se traduisent des expériences socio-historiques différentes, mais aussi leurs points de passages obligés, et les dynamiques sociales de diffraction et d’expansion qui leur sont inhérentes
In 1978, Bourdieu and Saint Martin wrote a famous study, “Le patronat,” based on extensive corres... more In 1978, Bourdieu and Saint Martin wrote a famous study, “Le patronat,” based on extensive correspondence analysis of the French corporate elite. In this paper, we go back to their notion of “field of economic power” and apply their methodology to the 838 executive and non-executive directors of the CAC 40 firms in 2009. Rather than the types of capitalism, our analysis highlights the force of national tropes (titles and careers linked to the French state, and passage via the grandes ecoles), at the very moment when we hear of the effacement of family capitalism and a great openness toward the international.
For more than a century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of the centralit... more For more than a century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of the centrality of banks to corporate networks. In explaining this phenomenon, sociologists have principally focused on immediate financial relations between banks and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but have neglected what economic theory might contribute in terms of the role played by banks in financial intermediation and money creation. From such a theoretical perspective, we propose that the centrality of banks is better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the progressive disappearance of this phenomenon would indicate the rise of bureaucratic regulation by central banks and global financial institutions.
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
Development economics seems to rediscover the importance of domesticating violence as a condition... more Development economics seems to rediscover the importance of domesticating violence as a condition of democratic empowerment. According to the theoretical framework developed by North, Wallis and Weingast (NWW), developing countries are defined as limited access orders that reduce the violence potential of powerful elite organizations through the manipulation of economic rents and the negotiation of more or less stable elite coalitions. NWW's framework must be credited for reintroducing social orders in economics' research agenda; allowing for different paths to development, and highlighting violence and conflict as a central force in societies. In this paper, we first go back to the discussion of two main challenges in NWW's theory and methodology. The first one is their pluralist understanding of open access societies. The second is the way they link micro-level behavior to macro-political changes. We show here that, though alternative strategies could be followed, the ...
La mondialisation conduit-elle ineluctablement a l'uniformisation de la vie economique, socia... more La mondialisation conduit-elle ineluctablement a l'uniformisation de la vie economique, sociale et culturelle? Les processus de diffusion de normes universelles s'imposent-ils a des acteurs qui se contenteraient de les decliner localement sans peu ou pas les modifier ? Sans nier la puissance des processus de convergence et d'uniformisation associes a de nouvelles formes de centralite - des marches financiers, des firmes multinationales ou des villes globales, l'objectif de cet ouvrage est de mettre l'accent sur les contre-tendances inscrites dans les dynamiques societales et propose une analyse critique des processus de mondialisation qui mettent en tension les parametres fondamentaux du rapport salarial et de son analyse societale. Etudiee a partir des transformations du travail, de l'emploi et des competences, la mondialisation apparait comme un assemblage de processus parfois convergents, souvent chaotiques, sources de desynchronisations, et qui percutent ...
Cette introduction au dossier propose un retour sur l’histoire entremêlée de l’État et de la scie... more Cette introduction au dossier propose un retour sur l’histoire entremêlée de l’État et de la science économique au XX e siècle. Elle interroge la manière dont l’affirmation de l’État comme acteur économique s’est articulée avec l’institutionnalisation de l’économie comme discipline académique et avec l’extension des objets de celle-ci à l’étude de la puissance publique elle-même. La contribution des savoirs économiques à la construction de l’État est envisagée dans le cadre du dossier à l’échelle des instruments d’action publique qu’elle a contribué à forger aussi bien que des représentations plus générales (souvent concurrentes) qui en sont issues et qui contribuent à légitimer les transformations de son périmètre d’intervention. La présentation des contributions – centrées sur la France, mais aussi la Russie (post)soviétique et les organisations internationales – permet de questionner à nouveaux frais les redéfinitions du rôle (économique) de l’État jusqu’au « tournant néo-libéra...
Recent tensions in Franco-German relations concerning the debt crisis in Europe or the clashes wi... more Recent tensions in Franco-German relations concerning the debt crisis in Europe or the clashes within EADS governance seem to have undermined Franco-German relations. This may of course nurture criticism of the very idea of Franco-German friendship. Talking about Franco-German friendship, Peter Sloterdijk (2009, p. 9) recently stated [that] there can be no relations between them and that their relationship which is officially set out in a treaty of friendship is, at best, what could be described as benevolent mutual disregard or benign estrangement between two former partners in love — and why not also then between two former partners in hate.
For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centra... more For more than one century, interlocking directorate studies have provided evidence of bank centrality in corporate networks. Many interpretations of this phenomenon have been elaborated, but none of them was conclusive. In this paper, we assume that theoretical and methodological limits have affected this literature. Firstly, two usual confusions have been to assimilate bank centrality to bank control and to study corporate networks from the perspective of a sum of links rather than the one of a whole structure. Secondly, scholars have paid attention to immediate financial relations between bank and industry, such as credit and shareholding, but not to financial intermediation and money creation. We think that economic theory of money creation is worth bringing back in. From such a theoretical perspective, bank centrality seems to be better understood as a form of collegial regulation of money creation, while the absence of such a phenomenon indicates the rise of bureaucratic regula...
Ce numéro de Cultures & Conflits est issu d’une table ronde organisée dans le cadre du 12ème cong... more Ce numéro de Cultures & Conflits est issu d’une table ronde organisée dans le cadre du 12ème congrès de l’Association Française de Science Politique, en juillet 2013, et porte sur la sociologie politique des « élites transnationales ». Loin d’accepter l’idée d’une méritocratie émergeant de la diversité sociale, ou d’une oligarchie se reproduisant à travers des capitaux sociaux et familiaux, ce numéro interroge ce qui se joue dans la formation de positions dominantes qui se reproduisent d’une génération sur l’autre, et ce malgré des transformations profondes des enjeux internes de chaque univers social particulier. Comment circulent les mécanismes qui assurent certains modes de reproduction et comment sont-ils compartimentés, nationalement ou professionnellement? Comment se traduisent des expériences socio-historiques différentes, mais aussi leurs points de passages obligés, et les dynamiques sociales de diffraction et d’expansion qui leur sont inhérentes
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