Extrapolation! Phenomenology, sociology of critique and states of mind in the solidarity economy

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the value and the limit of the sociology of critique as a form of post-Bourdieusian critical sociology, especially where moral values play a crucial role in explaining actions - as they do in the solidarity econ-omy, the field analyzed here. Contrary to interpretations of justifications as moral toolkits unconsciously mobilized by actors about practices whose real reasons lie elsewhere, I suggest that the sociology of critique's notion of "grammar" is useful for articulating the normative moral elements that motivate specific actions and justifications. We will see how taking the actors themselves seriously - the sociolo-gy of critique's motto - can yield important insights for sociology. But then we face a problem within the field that the sociology of critique can't resolve alone: there sometimes appears to be a contradiction between actors' actions and their justifications. Phenomenology can help us to understand these justifications at a deeper level as expressions of fundamental ways of relating to the world. In this sense phenomenology is useful to a moral sociology of critique because it helps us find a solution to the "contradiction" that the sociology of critique left unsolved.

Des Institutions en Personne: Une sociologie pragmatique en dialogue avec Paul Ricœur

French so-called sociologie pragmatique is indebted to Ricœur's philosophy on several points. After recalling them, the article focuses on the political and moral sociology which initiated this pragmatist turn. The dialogue with Ricœur firstly developed around theories of justice (Rawls, Walzer, Boltanski and Thévenot) and the author considers its main outlines: pluralism, the legitimacy of judgment, the recognition of authority, politics. A second part of the article builds on the continued relations resulting from the author's new developments of the sociology of engagements. Referring to "Le socius et le prochain" by Ricœur, and relying on sociological observations, the author addresses the issue of institutions and policies expected to become more user-friendly. He confronts the virtue of charity, which Ricœur brings to the fore, to the "art of composition" through which agents are engaged in the good of civic solidarity while engaging in functional tasks and also with the familiar world of personal attachments.

The Question of Moral Action: A Formalist Position

This article develops a research position that allows cultural sociologists to compare morality across sociohistorical cases. In order to do so, the article suggests focusing analytic attention on actions that fulfill the following criteria: (a) actions that define the actor as a certain kind of socially recognized person, both within and across fields; (b) actions that actors experience—or that they expect others to perceive—as defining the actor both intersituationally and to a greater extent than other available definitions of self; and (c) actions to which actors either have themselves, or expect others to have, a predictable emotional reaction. Such a position avoids both a realist moral sociology and descriptive-relativism, and provides sociologists with criteria for comparing moral action in different cases while staying attuned to social and historical specificity.