Robert Castel, who died on March 12 at the age of 79, profoundly changed our understanding of paid work, and with it our perception of the contemporary individual. The Life of Ideasto which he was attached, pays homage to him.
Robert Castel, sociologist born in 1933, died in Paris on Tuesday March 12. After an aggregation in philosophy, he turned to sociology. Collaborator of Pierre Bourdieu, his work which gives a large place to history undoubtedly brings him closer to Michel Foucault. His contribution to reflection on psychiatry in the 1970s and 1980s bears this mark.
Over the past twenty years, his book, Metamorphoses of the social questionshed light like no other on the transformations of what he called the “salary condition” and its anthropological issues. It is indeed the destiny of the modern individual that Robert Castel constantly questioned, even in the most recent news, thus weaving a close and fruitful link between philosophical reflection and the understanding of the present.
Robert Castel was a demanding intellectual for whom criticism, essential, must always be careful not to fall into pure denunciation. He was a traveling companion, from the first hour, of the life of ideas. We are losing, with this great thinker, a friend whom we will deeply regret. We will remember from him the attitude marked by vigilance, tenacity and generosity which was his way of participating in the “society of fellow human beings” that he hoped for. His work, as evidenced by the articles he wrote for us or which are dedicated to him, will remain present: it leaves us principles for understanding the changes in our society and its social protection.
Text by R. Castel
Robert Castel, “ Autonomy, aspiration or condition ? », March 26, 2010
In La Société du malaise, Alain Ehrenberg develops a sociology of individualism based on the comparative analysis of the social meanings of autonomy in the United States and in France. If decentering is beneficial, the idea seems to conceive autonomy independently of its social conditions of possibility.
(English translation: Robert Castel, “ Autonomy, aspiration or condition ? », July 8, 2010)
Interviews
Nicolas Duvoux & Thierry Pech, “ Return to the social question », November 18, 2008
In this interview, sociologist Robert Castel, director of studies atEHESSreturns to the main concepts through which he constructed an analysis and a narrative of the social question from yesterday to today. He thus reexamines the notions of work, property, solidarity and evokes his relationship as a researcher with the State.
Thomas Grillot, “ Work: values, expectations and frustrations », February 26, 2013
Can we find fulfillment in work? ? Three researchers invited to debate by the Life of Ideas show that the putting into practice of this idea, although omnipresent, is compromised by crises, the inaction of States and the absence of binding international standards.
Articles on his work
Emmanuel Pierru, “ Relationships of Robert Castel », September 26, 2012
The thought of Robert Castel has marked French sociology over the last thirty years. A collective work seeks to discuss the theses and concepts proposed by this sociologist of marginality. What emerges from the collected contributions is a legacy of social criticism backed by sociological practice.
Véronique Guienne, “ Two Perspectives on the Society of Individuals », June 8, 2009
In their latest works, Robert Castel and François Dubet question research in sociology and its social and political usefulness. If we cannot imagine more apparently opposite propositions, Castel promoting what allows social integration and Dubet announcing the end of social integration, the parallel reading of these two works allows us to better understand the current and desirable transformations. of society.
Articles based on or mentioning his work
Nicolas Duvoux, “ THE RMI at the meeting, lessons of a decentering », May 21, 2008
By studying Reunion society, where the massive recourse to national solidarity transforms private solidarity without destroying it, Nicolas Roinsard is led to put into perspective the concept of disaffiliation, designed by Robert Castel to analyze the social question in mainland France. A relativization perhaps excessive.
Igor Martinache, “ The politics of the poor », June 17, 2009
According to Denis Merklen, the progressive disintegration of wage society generates new forms of individuation and political mobilization within the working classes, where the neighborhood tends, imperfectly, to replace work as a support for social affiliation. A development that sociologists are often hard to see, failing to move away from a very normative conception of citizenship.
Marieke Louis, “ Integrate margins », December 9, 2010
Canadian political scientist Leah Vosko reinvestigates the problem of exclusion in the labor market by enriching it with an approach based on gender and citizenship. It calls for going beyond the framework of salaried employment in favor of a “ new imagination » social, which would legitimize the establishment of a protection system for all workers and encourage the recognition of care as a social force.
Jacques Rodriguez, “ From public charity to getting to work ? », September 23, 2008
The Speenhamland Act, a precursor to XIXe century of guaranteed minimum income, continues to fuel debates on social protection. A look back at a controversial episode in English social history.
Igor Martinache, “ Portrait of the association as a worker », February 27, 2009
The associative world is often described as an antidote to the excesses of capitalism. However, associations are often employers and the question of work is most often the subject of denial in these structures. According to Matthieu Hély, this situation has profound implications. Beyond just the associative world, his work examines the hierarchy and valuation of productive activities, as well as the commonly accepted distinctions between public and private sectors or salaried and voluntary work.
Nicolas Duvoux, A syndrome of precariousness », January 15, 2010
While sociological and philosophical work on social suffering is increasing, psychiatrist Jean Furtos takes a clinical look at the relationships between mental health and precariousness. Self-exclusion syndrome is presented as a pathology of insecurity and consists of a radical reduction in psychological functioning. A lesson that is limited neither to psychiatry nor to the study of precariousness
(English translation: Nicolas Duvoux, “ The Precariousness Syndrome », January 17, 2011)
Hervé Guillemain, “ Political anthropology of psychoanalysis », May 21, 2010
What is the effectiveness of the treatment based on? ? How is the regime of authority of psychoanalysts formed? ? By shifting its gaze towards the political field, anthropology depicts an authority both at the heart and on the margins of social space.
Collection “ The Life of Ideas / PUF »
Robert Castel & Nicolas Duvoux, “ The future of solidarity », January 18, 2013
Solidarity, the central value of the Republic, has undergone profound transformations in recent years. Under the effect of unemployment, but also precariousness and a growing suspicion towards the poor, a certain number of reforms have been implemented. The creation of RSA was a flagship measure of the Sarkozy presidency.