Political Parties and Social Movements : From the illusions of « current affairs » to a sociological perspective Two competing stereotypes can currently be identified in the debates within the radical left and insocial movements. One of these stereotypes postulates the death of political parties and prophesiesa political renewal animated by social movements. The other stereotype projects a resurrection ofthe party-structure and considers the role of social movements to be merely subaltern. The presentarticle adopts a position which is sociologically antithetical (...) regarding this issue : it begins by examining the numerous similarities between political parties and social movements and, more particularly, their shared vulnerability to the traits of professionalisation and the monopolisation of power.Contemporary social movements are not immune to such trends, despite repeated protestations oftheir commitment to horizontality. The article goes on to examine the process of differentiationwhich caused social movements to establish a specific space, separate from the political sphere. Inthe wake of this process, the political and the social appear to constitute two distinct universes,traversed by their own specific logics, while at the same time retaining relations which are both closeand fluctuating. (shrink)

If the condition of prostitution manifests itself as one of the clearest instances of domination in our societies, the paths to emancipation offered to those who are its victims prove to be contradictory, ranging as they do from the disappearance of venal sexuality, considered as a practice that is intrinsically inadmissible, to its fully-fledged recognition as a trade. In fact, the demands formulated by the movements of « sex workers » prove to be vulnerable in the face of the presumption (...) of alienation, while the goal of abolishing the practice of prostitution is open to the charge of paternalism, when it fails to meet with the approval of the prostitutes themselves. The article examines these rival paradigms for the emancipation of prostitutes. The issue of the social conditions which would render possible a questioning of the domination of these paradigms is central to the article’s argument. To do so, it examines the reflections on the process of subjectification we find in the writings of Foucault and Rancière, and it sketches out a number of possible analyses drawing on the sociology of Bourdieu and that which was initiated by Boltanski. (shrink)

If the condition of prostitution manifests itself as one of the clearest instances of domination in our societies, the paths to emancipation offered to those who are its victims prove to be contradictory, ranging as they do from the disappearance of venal sexuality, considered as a practice that is intrinsically inadmissible, to its fully-fledged recognition as a trade. In fact, the demands formulated by the movements of « sex workers » prove to be vulnerable in the face of the presumption (...) of alienation, while the goal of abolishing the practice of prostitution is open to the charge of paternalism, when it fails to meet with the approval of the prostitutes themselves. The article examines these rival paradigms for the emancipation of prostitutes. The issue of the social conditions which would render possible a questioning of the domination of these paradigms is central to the article’s argument. To do so, it examines the reflections on the process of subjectification we find in the writings of Foucault and Rancière, and it sketches out a number of possible analyses drawing on the sociology of Bourdieu and that which was initiated by Boltanski. (shrink)

Ce document est la retranscription d’un débat entre trois prostituées et des étudiants, tenu à l’Université Lyon 2 le 27 avril 1976. Ce débat constitue une des dernières manifestations publiques du mouvement des prostituées lancé à Lyon un an plus tôt, et qui avait vu une centaine de femmes occuper pendant plus d’une semaine une église de la ville afin de protester contre la répression policière. Il apporte non seulement un éclairage sur les conditions du passage à l’action collective d’une (...) population aussi marginale et stigmatisée que les prostituées, mais offre également de riches informations sur les logiques sociales, économiques et familiales qui, au milieu des années 1970, pouvaient contraindre des femmes à se prostituer. (shrink)

This article is a comparative study of five prostitutes' social movements. The emergence of these movements is one of the major developments in the politics of prostitution: for the first time, prostitutes are politically organizing and expressing their claims and grievances in the public debate about prostitution — a debate from which they are usually excluded. But, as is the case for most stigmatized populations, this pretension to enter into the public debate is faced with many difficulties. Some of these (...) are inherent to the world of prostitution, which is an informal, competitive and violent world, in which leaders face constant challenges to establish and maintain their authority and legitimacy. The article also emphasizes the crucial, but ambiguous, role played by alliances between prostitutes and people from other parts of society. Prostitutes' dependence on these supporters leads the author to consider their social movements to be heteronomous mobilizations. (shrink)