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French Sociologists and the Public Space of the Press: Thoughts based on a Case Study (, 1995-2002)

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The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Intellectuals and their Publics Chapter 10 Perspectives from the Social Sciences French Sociologists and the Public Space of the Press: Thoughts Based on a Case Study (Le Monde, 19951002)

Laurent Jeanpierre and Sébastien Mosbah-Natanson

Intrsduction

Recent studies in comparative history tend to support the hypothesis of a Edited by speciûcally French national mode of engagement of the intellectual professions cHRIsTIAN n'rpck and oftheir place in the social sbucture (see Charle, 1996). lt is in , as is University of Graz, Austria well known, that, at the time of the Dreyfus Affair at ths end of the nineteenth century, the neologism 'intellectual' was coined and that a heterogeneous social ANDREAS HESS gloup, made up of thinkers and writers, used it to oppose the traditional elites, in University College Dublin, IrelaJtd particular those in possession of economic power (see Charle, 1990, 163-82). For a long time, being an intellectual in France was based on the fact of E. STINA LYON speaking out in public in the name of universal values, using a legitimacy acquired in a specific London South Bank University, UK professional field of the intellectual world, as in the case of Zolaupon his famous publication of 'J'accuse' (1898). Other forms of intervention by professional intellectuals have undoubtedly been developed over the last century. But this initial model ofengagementhas been maintained in contemporary national public life. In this chapter we ask how it is socially structured and organized today. This chapter deals more particularly with the public engagement of sociologists in France. It considers one aspect of this issue: stances taken in newspaper op-ed columns. We focus on the op-ed columns ofonly one large daily newspaper,Ie Monde, between 1995 and 2002.t In the French political and public context, the year 1995 witnessed the intense engagement ofcertain intellecfuals with social movements ofthe time, a mobilization that has already been the subject of sociological analysis (see Duval et al., i998; Legavre, 1999). Therefore, it appeared that this year and the studies formerly canied out could serve as a ûrst point of oomparison *hich would be of relevance for our own results, seeking to treat a longer time span. On the basis of this case study, we shall firstly situate the commentary of sociologists in relation to that of the other intellectual professions. Then, the main factors determining the behaviour of French sociologists in Le Monde over recent years will be analysed. Finally, we aim to identiS the traits - in

ASHGATE I For a comparison between the French and the ltalian case, see Lettieri (2002). t4 Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space ofthe Press 175

particular - the themes - that may characte rize the modes of intervention of French The first selection was made on the basis of 'selÈpresentations', in the Goffinanian sociologists in the national daily press. sense, chosenbythe authorsthemselves(seeGoffman, 1959 [ 956]).Itis noJunusual to observe intellectuals changing self-presentation on the basis of circumstance or the 'cause'being defended.s In all ofthe professional fields selected, professors Methodology and the holders of various teaching positions at secondary or tertiary levels, as well as students, were added from the outset wherever their disciplinary affiliation In order to evaluate the position and role of sociologists in the contemporary was indicated. In order to limit the omission of professionals in the social and French public sphere, we decided to carry out an analysis of the interventions in human sciences, we also specifically added people with an affiliation tothe Centre debates in the daily newspaperze Monde. using the newspaper's cD-RoMs, we national de la recherche scienlifique (CNRS) or the École des hautes ëtudes en .Horizons-Débats' constructed a database containing the opinions published in the sciences sociales (EHESS) and explicitly coming from disciplines in the social pages between 1995 and 2002. For the most part, these pages publish columns, sciences which appear in the public organigrams of these institutions or of their similar to the 'op-ed'pages ofAnglo-American newspapers.2 Thàre is no freedom research centres.e This means that while self-presentation remained the criterion of access to the column, which is in fact managed by one editorial journalist for the professional categorization ofposition that prevailed, it was also crossed, who selects columns on the basis of proposals received. she or he is actually the during the primary phase of the study, with another criterion: affiliation to teaching gatekeeper or even the producer ofthe op-ed section. personalities gain the right and research in social science institutions. to write in it, and through this, attain the status of public intellectual. The words In order to avoid any suspicion of professional ethnocentrism or bias, we published in the opinion pages must, furthermore, be individually or collectively applied this last criterion most rigorously to sociologists themselves. The number signed, or taken responsibility for in the name of a group. In the newspaper studied, of interventions they made was therefore slightly underestimated. During the individual bylines must also be followed by a title or post. This signàture takes on study's second phase, we excluded from the final breakdown those who presented the role of a veritable 'discourse on discourse', and allows for the representation themselves as sociologists or as holding a title or an equivalent position but having made by the intellectuals of their position in the social space, and on this occasion never appeared in a scientific journal ofthe discipline in recent decades.r0 Taking the public sphere, to be situated.3 into account the proximity in France between sociology and political science, the The articles which appeared in the opinion pages of Le Monde can be broken same restrictive criterion had also to be applied to political scientists. In several down and analysed in terms of the following intellectual professions: economists,a cases, it was difficult to determine if people belonged to one discipline or the writers, historians,5 philosophers, political scientists, psychologists,6 sociologists.T other, as instances of cross- and dual affiliations were rather frequent. In the same way, columnists who declared themselves teachers of 'political sociology' were classified in both disciplines, and consequently counted twice. 2 These commentaries, solicited or selected by the newspaper, were also supplemented In addition to the margins of error regarding the breakdown of intellectual by some less frequent pages of interviews under the same general op-ed formai and called professions contributing to op-ed sections, a further limitation of our study, related Horizons-Entretiens ('intewiews'). They also reflect the representation that the newspaper constructs of people with the most legitimacy to have their words published. 3 On the social role ofthe signature, see Fraenkel (1992). 8 Therefore, in the relatively numerous cases of dual self-deflnitions ('philosopher 4 We have excluded signatories of texts with the title 'lecturer in economic sciences' and writer', 'sociologist and historian'), we decided to classiff the author under all the and probably underestimated the number of economists who do not work in higher education fields she or he claimed to represent. We therefore from the outset prevented ourselves from or scientiûc institutions, but rather for banks or insurance companies. We have also excluded judging the legitimacy of the self-deûnitions given. As a result, multiple self-definitions do business; management or flnance professionals. Intellectuals with multiple affiliations (a not ûgure more heavily in any field in particular. Professor of Economics and Business, for instance) were included with the economists. 9 Other institutions were added in the case of political scientists - the Fondation 5 Historians of art and of science were éxcluded from the study. In the French nationale des sciences politiques (FNSP), the Ceri tre d'études etderecherches internalionales university system, their training and recruitment follow different patterns from those of (CERI) and the Centre d'étude de la vie politique française (CEVIPOF). To be sure, our historians. breakdowns tend to underestimate specialists ofcultural regions. It appeared to us that their 6 In addition to psychologists and teachers ofpsychology, we included psychoanalysts disciplinary skills, as sociologists, political scientists, geographers, historians, economists and psychotherapists. We did not take psychiatrists into account, as their primary training in or anthropologists, were secondary to their knowledge of a specific territorial domain. medicine is further away from the human and social sciences that are the focus oiour study. 10 The appearance of signatories in disciplinary journals was evaluated onthe basis of 7 Ethnologists and anthropologists were not included. A first survey ofthe database information taken from two databases of social science articles, the Social Science Citation of columns allowed us to see that these professions were always less welirepresented than Abstracts (since 1963) and a French language scientific database, while recognizing the those we selected for inclusion in this study. limitations of these tools. ,/6 Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space ofthe Press l7j

to the specific nature of the newspaper selected as a case study, must be underlined. these classes, namely the intellectual professions, that most often contribute to it. The daily newspaper Le Monde was set up in 1945 following the liberation of Indeed, they are over-represented with respect to their place in French society on France.rr After , has it the second largest print run, at around 400,000 the one hand, but certainly also with respect to their place among the newspaper's copies, the of French national daily press (yet it is the most widely distributed readership (see Désintox, 2004, 24-5). priced daily, at 389,249 copies in 2003). It also has the largest readership, at an Other traits are also characteristic of the op-ed section of this large French average two million per (2,129,000 day in 2003 as against 1,302,000 for Le Figaro national daily newspaper. In terms of space, as well as in terms of the number and 901,000 for Libération, Le Mondeb two principal competitors).rz In Europe, of annual interventions, the columns carry greater weight than do the letters to the newspaper has been pais in partnerships with Et in spain and the British the editor (Désintox, 2004,24). According to the newspaper's ombudsman, the Guardian. is sometimes It compared to the German Franffirter Allgemeine rate ofselection for publication ofthe latter is around 3 per cent, probably much Zeitung, Politically to the centre-Left, the newspaper's readership is more highly higher than for columns, although it is impossible at this stage to know the precise educated than its national or regional competitors. The first national daily to be ûgures for their rejection. Within both, interventions by men are hugely over- read among students, 66 per cent of Le Monde readers are under 35 years old representative at 80 per cent (see Désintox, 2004,24). All ofthese data confirm the and have been in higher education (as against 4l per cent among the under-35s fact that the Le Monde op-ed is a universe with specific social rules: a relatively generally). Le Monde is also general the national daily that is most widely read autonomous social world that is neither the simple reflection ofthe social structure among high earners (those eaming more than 52,000 euros a year). Executives, of the country within which it is published nor of the social structure of its those in the intellectual professions and small businessmen represent 42 pet cent readership. of the readership as against43 per cent of workers, employees and retiredpeople. This relative autonomy of the Le Monde op-ed can be seen, for example, However, more than 50 per cent of readers come from an executive househôld, through its openness to columns originally written in foreign languages. Using and on average, the readership earns a higher income. In short, the readership of calculations made for 2003, a little more than 10 per cent of all columns published Le Monde has, on average, both a higher economic and a higher cultural capital annually are translated from a foreign language (see Désintox,2004,24). Our than that of other daily newspapers and of the French population at large. The study shows that the proportion of intellectuals of foreign origin (or, to a very hypothesis may be made that Le Monde has a greater capacity to mobilize for small extent, French intellectuals working abroad) is clearly higher, and remains op-ed the intellectual professions, or the representatives of the dominant groups relatively stable between 1995 and 2002 at around 30 per cent. This relative among its readership, than do other dailies. openness of the Le Monde columns to foreign intellectuals (or those well known abroad) varies across disciplines: for the period we have looked at, it appears that there is most openness towards writers, political scientists and historians (see The Le Monde Op-ed: A Panorama Appendix 10.2). In contrast, the columns of Le Monde less regularly invite foreign economists or sociologists despite the fact that the newspaper was recently voted The above is partly confirmed by a survey carried out by a citizenassociation the second daily read by European 'opinionmakers', after The Financiol Times,t3 on the op-ed sections of the daily during 2003 (using a similar methodology to and that these professions may appear to be more intemational than the former.ta our own). Among the 710 columns published in 2003 (representing a little more Two alternative hypotheses can follow from the above: European public space than 2.25 opinion pieces daily), more than 45 per cent come from the university, cannot as yet be said to exist; or if it does, it may be witnessed in the columns of resealch, art or culture worlds as against 29.2 per cent from the political and 4.6 the largest national newspaper.rs On the other hand, while there are sociologists in per cent from the economic fields (see Appendix l0.l; see also Désintox, 2004, l5). However, access to an opinion column printed on the first page and continued within the hewspaper is more frequent for persoqalities from the economic and 13 Information taken from the i2ublishers of Le Monde in a supplement to the political worlds (see Désintox, 2004, 2l). Although the dominant classes are new$paper, Saturday 5 June 2004. privileged in the op-ed section of Le Mande, it is the subordinate sector within 14 The intemationalisation of scientific exchange does not, however, entail the disappearance ofnational borders between disciplinary fields. To be convinced ofthis fact, it is sufficient to calculate the proportion ofarticles translated from foreign languages in 11 On the history of Le Monde, (2001); péan see Eveno Cohen and (2003). the various scientific journals of any of the social scientific disciplines. It will be obvious T2 Released by the publishers of Le Monde in asupplement to the newspaper, Saturday that the columns af Le Monde are generally more open to non-French interventions than are 5 June 2004. The rnajority ofthe tgures in this paragraph are taken from a European survey scientific joumals that remain structured along national lines. ofthe national daily press, EuroPQN, 2003/2004. In France, the largest daily print run ofa 15 On the history of the European public space, see Requate and Schulze-Wessel daily newspaper is that ofthe regional daily Ouest-France, at 783,000 copies. (2002\. t78 Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space of the Press t79

Europe with the role of public intellectual, it is more probable that they would be daily's orientation, that legitimates forms of knowledge receiving less attention better known in the countries in which they work (or from where they originate) râmong elites. It is undoubtedly herein that the institution of the op-ed, at least than in other European Union countries.r6 at Le Monde, has inherited from the critical tradition of the French intelleotual: it intervenes as a counterweight to dominant opinion, or rather to the dominant rneans of producing opinions.18 The Legitimate Intellectual Professions in the columns oï Le Monde The hierarchy of intellectual professions represented in Le Monde columns is in fact neither a reflection of the morphological developments of ihe various According to our sample 1,505 of columns written by intellectuals in ze Monde disciplines within higher education nor of the recognition gained by each from the between 1995 and 2002, writers are the most highly represented group. columns institutions of the state. It is the product ofjournalists' construction of hierarchies by writers in the newspaper are almost twice as numerous as those by any within the intellectual field (see Pinto, 1981, 1994 and 2002). Another way of other intellectual professions. However, university professors and researchers treating this legitimacy of the various intellectual professions within the specific altogether dominate the Le Monde op-eds when compared to writers. Historians public space constituted by the op-ed section of Le Monde is to analyse the interview and philosophers, attached in France to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, questions asked by journalists themselves for the clarification, outside of the op- intervene as often as sociologists or political scientists. Within the social sciences, ed, of issues raised by current affairs. our study shows that, for such analytical psychologists write more than three times less often than other professions; rinterviews, sociologists are approached more often by Le Mondejournalists than economists are a little less represented than sociologists and politicàl scientists,' are philosophers, university-based economists or researchers. Even ifone includes who over the period studied are those who intervened most often in ze Monde (for economists from banks or economic organizations, the discipline is only slightly all the results referred to in this paragraph, see Appendices 10.3 and 10.4). better represented than sociology. This means that when those from u giu.n These first results demonstrate both the significance and the inertia of the intellectual field are selected, Le Mondejoumalists tend to favour sociology over structures inherited from the French intellectual field within the press and the so- economics, and the latter over the humanities, which is less the case in the op- called public sphere. The words of the writer, whose mastery ùas long reigned ed section (see Appendix 10.5). sociology is a highly legitimate discipline for ze over French intellectual life,tT always dominate in the newspaper in quantitative Monde, while this does not seem to be the case in all other dailies or in the public terms. The division among intellectual professions within the columns of re sphere in general (see Tavemier,2004). Monde partly reflects the rise of the social sciences within French universities Before turning to those sociologists who take on the role of public intellectual since the end of the 1960s, but older disciplines such as philosophy or history and to the specific nature of this group in France, it is useful to return to the are also well represented. The position of economists, relatively *àuke, than that degree of international openness ofthese professions now that we have a better of other social scientists, is furthermore an indication above ali of the delay with understanding of the legitimacy of each within ze Monde's columns. There is a which the columns of Le Monde have reflected the contemporary balance between strong correlation between the weight they carry within the columns and the degree the scholarly disciplines. on the other hand, however, this is also the result of the of their intemationalization: in other words, the more legitimate a profession is in the eyes of the op-ed editors, the more it seems to be open to the participation 16 The number of interventions by foreign sociologists in the columns of Le Moide offoreign intellectuals. Sociology represents a separate case due to the fact that, too is small, even in the period of eight years considered, to be representative of the among the disciplines which are becoming more and more legitimate in the op-eds, intemational prestige of one personality or another. ulrich Beck, rvolf Lepenies and Alan it appears to be the least open to those ofnon-French origin. This poses an obstacle wolfe have all intervened twice while those who have intervened once include zygmunt to the Europeanization of public debates, or at least to their sociological treatment. Bauman, Daniel Bell, Anthony ciddens and Jtrgen Habermas. The regular intervention For this reason, we shall now turn to attempting to better understand the milieus in of Francophone sociologists (and intellectuals), in particular from Switzerland or euebec which those sociologists (such frequently participating in public debates exist. as Régine Robin), but also from several North African and African countries, ihould be noted. 17 Despite the republican alliance between science and democracy, in France there is an attachment to the literary definition ofeducational culture that, from I 900 to the present day, stands in often çonscious opposition to the German representation that privileged the scientist-scholar (Gelehrte) over the writer or the unaffiliated intellectual - inemediably 18 This statement must be relativized because, beyond its columns, Le Monde has separating between the two groups - and that sees professors as being in the service of the privileged economists'opinions by creating a weekly supplement dedicated to economics goveming elites to which they naturally pinto belong; see (19g4),26:charle (1990), 231-2, that we did not take into account in our study. During the period studied, the national daily and esp. Ringer (1992). cancelled another weekly supplement on social issues. Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space of the Press 181

The Nature of the French Pubtic Sociologist correlation between the scientific capital of an intellectual and his/her legitimacy in the public sphere of the press (see Appendix 10.6). Top-ranking sociologists in A first means of examining this milieu is to create a list of the top-ranking -our study have published much less in national or intemational scientific journals sociologists who intervene in the Le Monde op-ed section (see Appendix 10.6). than in the Le Monde columns in the period under consideration. This negative By only selecting those who have written, individually or collectively, rnore than correlation can be witnessed to an even greater degree among the most public twice in eight years, we obtained a restrictive group of around twenty persons.re philosophers (see Appendix 10.7). This type of correlation may well constitute The result is almost thc same for philosophers (see Appendix 10.7). In other words, a law in the relations between the intellectual field and the public sphere. This there is a strong concentration ofintellectuals participating in public debates at the is what explains the fact that the philosopher Jacques Derrida or the sociologist top of the hierarchy. As in the case of the scientific ûeld and most of the fields of Pierre Bourdieu, known publicly and among the scientific community abroad, cultural production, the public sphere of the press is structured by what Robert were in fact at the bottom of the top-ranked list of public intellectuals in France, Merton has called the 'Matthew effect': there is a threshold of media recognition particularly because their interventions were most of the time part of collective on the basis of which symbolic capital accumulates itself (see Merton, 1968 and articles of petitions. l e88). In the same way, the sociologists most highly represented in the columns What traits are characteristic of the French public sociologist? They mainly of Le Monde are not those with the highest initial educational capital. Among tend to be male, three-quarters of columns having been wriften by men. It is even our sample of public sociologists, those educated at the elite École Normale more probable that they will be attached to a Parisian institution: sociologists Supérieure are less well represented than those from mainstream universities, and from the provinces less frequently write for Le Monde than do those from other in particular the Institut d'Etudes politiques (IEP), a private, independent higher eountries. The columns do little more than accentuate the centralized nature of education institution that trains future high civil servants, politicians, joumalists French sociology; 78 per cent ofits research centres are based in the Paris region and researchers in political science. Writing a column in Le Monde - a significant (see Godelier, 2002). Finally, the public sociologist is generally over 40 years proportion of its journalists having been educated at the IEP - seems to be more old: there is no means of accessing public opinion before having passed the tests easily accessible to those following similar educational paths. posed by the field. The institution to which one belongs seems, furthermore, to The majority of the sociologists most prolific in the Le Monde columns also be an important variable in the legitimization of participation in public debates. have a high status position within education or research - a professorship or Among the twenty or so sociologisfs we selected, a majority come from the CNRS directorship of research or studies. Therefore, although some scientifrc capital and the EHESS, although the former represent only a little over a third of all is necessary in order to access the columns, it is not necessary to gain more in French sociologists (see Godelier, 2002). They are frrll-time researchers rather order to remain there and increase one's importance. It is as if, having reached a than professors2o and they come from relatively new institutions as opposed to the threshold authorizing intervention, there is a mechanism in operation that converts Grandes Ecoles (elite higher education institutions), or the Collège de France.2t On the resources accumulated in the scientific field for use in the public sphere. In the basis of the list oftop-ranking sociologists intervening inLe Monde from 1995 France, and probably in other Western countries, one should thus distinguish until 2002, either in columns or interviews, the significance of a specific network between two careers that require a minimal amount of scientific capital: that of the emerging from the research centre founded at the EHESS by the sociologist Alain public intellectual, and that ofthe scholar or university professor. Touraine in 1981, the Centre d'analyse et d'intervention sociologiqzre (CADIS), The analysis ofthe interventions ofthese fwenty French public sociologists ( 108 which houses five of the twenty most publicized researchers (Touraine, Wieviorka, columns) allows, furthermore, for the distinction to be made between two modes Le Bot, Khosrokhavar and Louis), can be observed. of participation in the public debate. A first group of 'generalists' (those whom As in the rare cases of studies on public intellectuals in other countries (see for Bourdieu and Passeron once wrote off as 'universal specialists'; see Bourdieu example PôsneE 2003 [2001], 167-220), it may be seen that there is a very weak and Passeron, 1963), intervene on all - or nearly all - topics without mobilizing specific skills or resources (Alain Touraine, Edgar Morin, Michel Wieviorka).22 Here, the sociotogist reproduces the norms of behaviour of the public intellectual 19 As an indication, at the time of the study there were a little over 950 sociologists in France, ofwhich 600 were lecturer-researchers (professors) and 350 full-time researchers; see Godelier (2002), 26. 22 Alain Touraine and Edgar Morin conquered the columns at the time of the events 20 On the structuring nature ofthis opposition between'professor'and'researcher' of May 1968, of which they were the real time interpreters. With Raymon Aron, they were in the history of French sociology, see Heilbron ( I 985). among the only sociologists to'intervene in the national press, interpreting events as they 21 The same results would emerge from the observation of political scientists. They unfolded. On intellectuals and the press in May 1968, see Brillant (2003), 195-203 and intervene most often in electoral debates, on the one hand, and in intemational affairs, on the other. 307-3 l. t82 Intellechtals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space oJ'the press r83 figures of the past, such as writers or philosophers. Another type, or particular sub- ., iiiiirpomestic politics is the second theme on which sociologists intervene, whether

, i,:they fype, is represented by the spokesperson (or the 'organic'sociologist, as Gramsci critique or support one or another party-political line (generally on the Left would have said) who represents the position taken by a party (as in the case of : 'if,or most of the public sociologists of Le Monde), or whether they intervene at Michaël Lôwy, or on this occasion, Michel Wieviorka and Alain Touraine), a trade ,,.times of elections or propose general reflections on the subject of iepresentative union or a collective to which she or he generally belongs. This type of figure , .;democracy. certainly, in these two domains, the structure of the newspaper's op-ed stands in contrast to that - in the minority - of the specialist public sociologistr:ii ,,:section and the themes it favours25 impose upon the position taken by sociologists who takes a stance in the public sphere on subjects within which she or he has,i , .and social science specialists in general (see Appendix 10.8). developed competency and scientific recognition (such as Didier Fassin on public r', 't,,, If we exclude interventions with no specifically defined object, with a very health, Yvon Le Bot on Chiapas, Laurent Mucchielli on delinquency, Pierre Merle ,,general discourse on the nature of French societ5r or modernity, the specific on the education system, François de Singly on the family and Dominique Wolton , theme that most attracts sociological attention is that of the famiiy, sexuality or on the media).23 ,'private life, to which can also be added the issue of gender. It wili be necessary This division is probably not specific to sociology. lndeed, since the 1970s it .,,to veri$r since when this theme was imposed and ask whether this domination has accompanied the legitimization process of the social sciences within the public , may last beyond the contextual effects that, during the period under observation, lbrought sphere of the press so that the traditional figure of the Dreyfusard intellectual, the it to the fore of the French media scene.ru public sociologist ouniversal ihe at intellectual', in France has by now entered into competition with that of the top of our ranking, Eric Fassin, is a specialist in such topics. He shares the the 'specific intellectual' (see Foucault, 1977 ll972l). However, because the social, same working methods and professional ethos as the national daily newspaper institution of the op-ed and the former figure are historically linked, it is normal journalist. Following the theme of family, gender and sexuality come the themes that the latter remain in the minority, no doubt appearing more within expertise and of (l) religion and secularism (laicité), (2) immigration, (3) social movements, counter-expertise. An analysis of the themes of intervention of public sociologists and (4) employment, business, poverty, social class and economics, slightly ahead inLe Monde between 1995 and 2002 can allow for this first brief typology to be of education and the environment. These are all recurrent themes in French public concluded and considered. debates, but their respective importance still depends on context. If we add to columns on international affairs those that deal with national political affairs, in 2003, for example, more than 80 per cent of columns were concerned with a theme The Themes of Sociological Intervention ofcurrent affairs (see Désintox, 2004,29-31). The commentaries written by sociologists in Le Monde between 1995 and In fact, among the more than 250 columns by sociologists (or including sociologists, 2002 also often deal with debates on the subject of sociology itself, but also in the case ofcollectively authored articles ofpetitions) that we selected for the science (particularly due to the Sokal affair) and university or research policy. period 1995-2002, those treating international afTairs dominate significantly, Such debates are often added to by a series of tributes (to pierre Bourdieu, for representing at least 15 per cent of all interventions.2a It is within this domain example) or by profiles of well-known sociologists and theorists (castoriadis, that foreign sociologists most often intervene (Beck on Germany, Giddens on the Foucault, and so on). Here, sociologists represent their profession, their university UK, Wolfe on the United States). Over this period, particular attention was paid or research in general. The universalizing norm that determines the nature ofthe by French sociologists to the consequences of the Algerian war, to reflections on op-ed section is nevertheless so strong that it was relatively rare, for example in American society and politics, and to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and so on. 2003, to see professors or researchers intervening on issues surrounding public higher education and research policy (see Désintox, 2004, 43).

23 A confirmation of this classification can be found in Tavernier (2004) (esp. ch. 4) that, drawing from a study based on 3500 media discourses where sociologists have been mobilized by the national French daily press (Ie Monde, Le Figaro, Libération), 25 In 2003, more than 45 per cent of the columns in Le Monde treated the subject of distinguishes threê figures among sociologists who intervene publicly: the spokesperson, the intemational politics; see Désintox, 2004, Zg-3 L, expert and the scholar. These also include sub-types. The spokesperson may be a reader, a 26 This period witnessed important debates on the issue of homosexual parenting witness or an activist in a collective. The expert can represent a professional, institutional or and the transformation of the family following the institutionatization by the state (law practical (as competency when, for example, the editor of an official report is concemed). passed on 15 November 1999) of a form of civil union, the PACS (Pacte civil de solidqrite 24 Once the body of the study is enlarged, over time and to other publications, we - Civil pact ofsolidarity). There are other studies that confirm the signiflcance taken on by shall carry out a coding and a more precise statistical analysis of columns written by these themçs in recent years in public debate and the importance of the reference made to sociologists. sociology when they are dealt with by a newspaper; see Tavernier (2004). .-

French Sociologists and the Public Space of the Press 185 184 Intellectuals and their Publics 10.1 The system ofconstraints ofpublic sociologists in The op-ed section is not a space for unrestricted writing. It is constructed press They demand reference to other sectors ofthe public sphere and ofthe itself. Specialization Generalization point of view, as is the case for ' ' the universalization of a cause or of a particular Neutrality Furthennore, in the same year, more than half of ze Monde op- readers, letters.2T Commitment .J participated in the denunciation or support ofa given cause. A fudher or fifth"oluron, expressld normative positions (see Désintox ,2004,38-9). Certain themes one opinion standpËints thus provoke inock-on àfî""tr, veritable 'controversies': irâlso noted the importance in the presentation ofone's title (professor) and research in which rhetorical skills take over from leadsio several oth*rr, in a chain reaction lnterviews carried out with 2003 thus ., institution u*ong the most public of intellectuals' scientific capability. The analysis of lhe Le Monde op-ed columns for public sociologists also revealed the importance of a reference to a given school 15 per cent of interventions, for researchers or confirms thât it is rare, at around resolving the tensions inherent specific ii,àt *rougtrt in iheir identity-construction and for professors to transmit or intervene on the basis of their knowledge of a ilfu ttreir position (see Tavernier, 2004, ch.8, 9 and l0)' Sociologists' opinion is to play the role ofthe expert rather than that ofthe scholar or spokesperson, theme, jloften formed in the name of activist affiliations, party politics or trade union io speak only in general terms (see Désintox, 2004' 43)' Whatever constrained In short, it is therefore not only the legitimacy of sociology in the intellectuals mobilize, the op-ed section, orsanizations. social-professional backgrouod th.t" write columns; therc is a whole set 'universal pu-Uti. sphere that is at stake when sociologists more than a century after the Dreyfus Affair, favours the position of the ofother social properties that define the public intellectual's identity. intellectual'. I press, resource the . Sociology has certainly become, in the written a in construction of increasingly active public debates, particularly in Le Monde, rvhere in the op-ed seclion alone, it appeared to have served as a counterweight, Synthesis of Results .along with other social sciences, to the hegemony of economics as a mode for be not only a speciûc by 'probiematizing and constructing public issues. This might In France, the world of the public intellectual therefore remains dominated .ttuit of tn" case under study, but also a national characteristic, in that comparison .universal specialists'. The institution of the newspaper op-ed column has brought with other countries, in particular the United States, would reveal that the discipline intellectual, emerging since the end ofthe nineteenth about aparticular model ofthe in the public space of the press. example, of of sociology enjoys a much weaker legitimacy century'from the literary field or the humanities, as in the case, for and sexuality, social movements, the organization of labour, education, the social structure'of columns written in the Family Sartre. Our study suggests that while that are prioritized in the discursive cutturât policy and the media are, in France, the domains national daily piess has probably changed over the last decades, their public interventions made by sociologists who intervene as experts, rather than as the same' constraints have mostly rernained nevertheless, it is the scientific his or her spokespersons or scholars. On all ofthese themes, Once an actor takes a stand within the eolumns, the principles of .slitts gained at the national level that predominate: authors of non-French origins completely, their relationship to those of their discipline' intervention lose, almost problematizing the issues is rarely a European to specialization are absent; the framework used for Where scientific capital is accùmulated to a large extent according in one, at least when not imposed by the political agenda. (scholarly sociological associations today account for some fifty sub-disciplines A debate has begun during recent years in the United States on the modes of symbolic capital attached to column-writing is Èrun""; sle Godelier, 2002,26),the ends, the columns of a large a sociologists'intervention in the public sphere. To these by means of universalization. This first tension is added to by primarily achieved possible sites in which sociologists may invest' The attached to daily newspaper are one of the n rtfrff one for scholars, between the normative constraint of neutrality study we *rri"A out of a French op-ed section reveals the limitations of such an of engagement that has hislorically dominated scientifrq activity and the constraint evoked the question of its social influence or offour possible roles that investment. Without having even the op-eà. Thesé dual constraints lead to the definition writing of columns by from legitimacy vis-à-vis the readers of daily newspapers, the publù sociologists in France must fuIfrI, as must their colleagues coming sùiotogistt subordinates them to rules made externally to their world and which other disciplinàs ofthe social or natural sciences (see Table l0'l)' force them to abandon both their habits and their skills' It is uncertain in this context whether disciplinary affiliation is the most who important social property in order to better understand how intellectuals we intervene in the press. Bàyond the frequent recourse to dual self-definitions,

- ,? O" ,hir d"rand for the generalization of all public intervention, see Boltanski et al. (1984). i86 Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and the Public Space ofthe Press r,87

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Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 51 (March), 3-40. r Robert K. (1968), 'The Matthew Effect in Science', Science 159, 56-63. Bourdieu, Pierre (1984), Homo Academicus (Paris: Minuit). Merton, Robert K. (1988), 'The Matthew Effect in Science II: Cumulative Bourdieu, Pierre and Passeron, Jean-Claude (1963), 'Sociologues des mythologies fi.:L Advantage and Symbolism of Intellectual Priority',1sis 79,60Â23. et mythologies de sociologues', Zes Temps modernes 2ll (December), 998- Binto, Louis (1981), 'Les affinités électives. Les amis du Nouvel Observateur 1021. ,r', comme "groupe ouvert"', Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 3Ç7, Brillant, Bernard (2003), Les clercs de 68 (Paris: PUF). t05-t24. Charle, Christophe (1990), Naissance des intellectuels (Paris: Minuit). .Pinto, Louis (1984), 'La vocation de l'universel. La formation de la représentation Charle, Christophe (1996), Les intellectuels en Europe au XIXè siècle. Essai it de I'int"llectuel vers 1900'lc tes de la recherche en scienèes sociales 55,23- d'histoire comparée (Paris: Le Seuil). ' 32. (2002), sans intention: la sociologie en France depuis Louis (1994), journalisme philosophique', Actes de la recherche en Chenu, Alain 'Une institution \i.i:t Pinto, 'Le I'après-guerre' , Actes de Ia recherche en sciences sociales 141-2,46-59. i:.r: sciences sociales (March), 2518. ri.ill'in: T /^^^^\ .y r^----^- Cohen, Philippe and Péan, Pierre (2003), Loface cachëe du Monde (Paris: Mille Pinto,-, Louis---:- (2002), 'r-espace public----Lr comme construction joumalistique. Les et une nuits). ;r, auteurs de "tribune" dans la presse écrite' , Agone 26*7, 151-82. Désintox (Association de citoyens contre la désinformation) (2004), Du bon usage 1';Posner, Richard A. (2003 [2001]), Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline des tribunes duMonde, La désinformation - La preuve, dossier 4, Paris. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). Duval, Julien, Gaubert, Christophe, Lebaron, Frédéric, Marchetti, Dominique and Requate, Jôrg and Schulze-Wessel, Martin (e ds)(2002),Europàische Ôffentlichkeit. Pavis, Fabienne (1998), Le 'décembre'des intellectuels français (Paris: Liber- Transnationale Kommunikation seit dem i,8. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt am Main: Raisons d'agir). Campus). Eveno, Patrick (2001), Le journal Le Monde, une histoire d'indëpendance (Paris: Ringer, Fritz K. (1992), Fields of Knowledge. French Academic Culture in Odile Jacob). Comparative Perspective 1890-1920 (Cambridge and Paris: Cambridge Foucault, Michel (1977 ll972l), 'Intellectuals and Power: A Conversation Between University Press and Editions de la MSH). Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze', in Language, Counter-rnemory, Practice Sirinelli, Jean-François (1990), Intellectuels et passions françaises. Manifestes et (Cornell: Comell University Press), 205-17. pétitions au XXè siècle (Pans: Fayard, réed. Gallimard, coll. Folio). Fraenkel, Béatrice (1992), La signature. Genèse d'un signe (Paris: Gallimard). Tavernier, Aurélie (2004), Paroles d'experts: rhëloriques journalistiques de Godelier, Maurice (2002), L'état des sciences de I'homme et de la société en recours aux paroles extérieures, Le Monde, Libération, Le Figaro. Journaliste France et leur rôle dans la construction de l'espace européen de la recherche et sociologue, la construction d'un référentiel (thèse soutenue à I'Université de (Paris: Ministère de la recherche). Lille III sous la direction de Bernard Delforse, Lille). Goffman, Erving (1959 [956]), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Doubleday Anchor). Heilbron, Johan (1985), 'Les métamorphoses du durkheimisme, 1920-1940', Revue français"e de sociologie 26,2-3,203-37 . Legavre, Jean-Baptiste (1999) 'Les intellectuels dans I'espacepublic. Les lectures joumaiistiques des pétitions de novembre-décembre 1995', in François, Bastien and Neveu, Erik (eds), Espaces publics mosaïques. Acteurs, arènes et rhétoriques des débats publics cantemporains (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes),20918. Lemieux, Cyril (1996), 'L objectivité du sociologue et l'objectivité du journaliste: convergences, distinctions, malentendus', in Feldman, J., Filloux, J.-C., Lecuyer, B.-P. et al., Ethique, épistémologie et sciences de l'homme (Patis: L Harmattan), 147-63. French Sociologists and lhe Public Space of the Press 189

Appendix

f,lmbe. ôf Editodâls

unlv€clty / Rsôad l5qô

Psychol@ists sftaôlogistg EconomisG Polltiæl Scbntlsts

Op-ed columns in Le Monde,1995-2002: The hierarchy of

Poltt6t fieb legitimate intellectual professions 29%

Figure 10.1 Professional origins of op-ed writers, Le Monde,2003

{umbêr ot Ëdltôrlâ|3 40,o

15,0

30,0 i * WriteE 25,0 i *Hi*ortans j Psychologists i sodologists 20,0 ! -Economisg

15,0

l0,o

5,0 1995 1996 tggT 1998 1999 z0oo 2001 2002 Y€.r 0.0

Figure 10.4 Op-ed columns in Le Monde,1995-2002: The evolution of Figure 10.2 Op-ed pages in Le Monde,1995-2002, rate of foreign columns legitimate intellectual professions 190 Intellectuals and their Publics French Sociologists and lhe Public Space of the Press

llumb.r of lnbniewc Op-Eds 250 23 - Régis Debray lt Robert Redeker ll Alain Etchegoyen l0 Daniel Bensaîd 8 André Glucksmann 6 Bruno Mattéï 6

Etienne Balibar 5

Monique Canto-Sperber 5

Blandine Kriegel 5 Elizabeth Badinter 4

€conomEts (tot l) Èconomi*s {shotôrs) phitosophe6 Socblogtrb (achotars) prcrês.lon Jacques Derrida 4 Tariq 4 Figure 10.5 Interviews in Le Mondeolggs-e0022 The hierarchy of legitimate Alain Badiou J intellectual professions Geneviève Fraisse 3 Denis Kambouchner Scholarly Citations Op-Eds Analytical 3 (Sociological Abstracts) Interviews Yves Michaud 3 Yvon 3 Eric Fassin l8 t3 Berhand Hervieu 5 Quiniou Alain Touraine 222 ll IrèneThéry 4 Figure 10.7 Ranking of public philosophers, Le Monde,1995*2002 Edgar Morin 48 ll Monique Dagnaud 4

Shmuel Trigano tl 9 Fahrad Khosrokhavar 4 Henri-Pierre Jeudy 8 6 Jean-Pierre Le Goff 4 Bruno Latour t20 6 Dominique Pasquier 4

Michel Wieviorka r08 6 Christian Baudelot 3

f5q r Monique Dagnaud t0 5 Stéphane Beaud 3 300 Dominique Wolton 5 5 Philippe Breton 3 250 Philippe Breton l0 4 Margaret Maruani 3 æa Denis Duclos 20 4 Dominique Monjardet 3 150 Didier Fassin 26 4 Alain Touraine 3 l@ Yvon Le Bot 5 4 Michel Wieviorka 3 50

Pierre Bourdieu 446 J ù

Fahrad Khosrokhavâr 23 J {,*ti .rri ."" ."a^' d) ,ud - ùv dr '$E Marie-Victoire Louis 5 3 ^n,$ .s' ird.*d9,oo ...è'..C..u$ ,".s...f'. -f,f -f'-s' .eo"c" 1.".;r"{."/ Michaël ' Lôwy 183 3 .o'Ë "d Pierre Merle t7 J "ë

Laurent Mucchielli 3l 3

François de Singly 23 J Figure 10.8 llierarchy of topics in Le Monde op-ed, 2003

Figure 10.6 Ranking of public sociologists, Le Monde,lggs-2002

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