Two indigenous settlements in Canada and French Guiana were studied using an ethnoarchaeological approach. They served as experimental fieldwork to assess the strengths and weaknesses of intuitive analysis. In the first case, the abandoned Cree camp at Millie was inventoried in 1968 by Robson Bonnichsen, and the inferences made were then compared with the testimony of a former inhabitant. In the second case, Stéphen Rostain conducted archaeological fieldwork in 1990 in the deserted Palikur hamlet of Maillard Savannah before evaluating the relevance of his interpretations by interviewing the chief. These two experiments, carried out independently of each other without knowledge of each other, reveal similar intuitive processes whose results were refuted by the ethnographic interview. These are two examples of ethnoarchaeological attempts at rudology (the study of waste) in the 1960s–80s. Such archaeology and sociology of garbage dumps still has its followers today.
This article reassesses the scientific legacy of Francesco Alberoni by foregrounding the theoretical centrality and originality of the concept of the “nascent state,” which serves as the generative core of his sociology of collective movements and affective life. Rooted in a sustained dialogue with the French sociological tradition—especially Edgar Morin and Alain Touraine—Alberoni’s work emerges from the postwar Italian context, where sociology struggled to institutionalize itself and where a broader “intellectual revolt” challenged dominant idealist and Marxist paradigms. The nascent state is conceptualized as a pre-ideological, fundamental experience that intertwines subjectivity, historicity, and social change, enabling a unified analysis of personal, dyadic, group-based, and collective dynamics. By extending this framework from collective behaviour to romantic love, Alberoni illuminates the inherent tension between innovation and institutionalization, as well as between creative and destructive forces within social transformation. The article shows the continuing relevance of Alberoni’s theory for understanding contemporary societies, in which creative effervescence is often absorbed by market logics but where non-commodifiable spaces of meaning and value persist. The conclusion raises the question of whether today’s sociological community may be on the verge of a new “cultural revolt” capable of resisting technocratic and utilitarian reductions of sociological knowledge.
Forty years after his death, is Fernand Braudel still relevant today? This article shows that he is, in at least three ways. First, Fernand Braudel was a pioneer in the idea of thinking globally and not confining historical analysis to the framework of the nation-State alone. Second, he invites us to consider different time frames—three, in fact—and not to be satisfied with event-driven history, short-term history, or current events. And thirdly, he promoted multidisciplinarity, of which he was a concrete institutional actor, with the creation of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme (FMSH) and the transformation of the sixth section of the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) into a fully-fledged institution, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).
La multiplication des énoncés concernant le pouvoir des algorithmes conduit à rappeler leur ancrage dans des écosystèmes numériques et techniques. L’enjeu est de saisir, à travers les agencements matériels, liés à des conventions, des normes et des pratiques, la façon dont les algorithmes sont pris dans une multitude d’interactions tout à la fois physiques et sociales. Les erreurs de communication qu’ils peuvent générer, les incomplétudes des boucles computationnelles, ou encore leurs dysfonctionnements concrets sont autant d’occasions de voir surgir l’infrastructure matérielle qui porte et rend possible l’usage des algorithmes. Les trous structuraux révélés au fil de bogues, de troubles ou de tensions rendent visibles tous les câblages et les liens nécessaires au fonctionnement des algorithmes, obligeant à des séries de corrections, d’arrangements, voire de détournements, qui ne se réduisent pas à des routines de maintenance. Comme les infrastructures du numérique sont elles-mêmes potentiellement vulnérables, une sociologie des algorithmes peut se donner pour tâche d’explorer les prises critiques élaborées par les acteurs lorsqu’ils doivent prendre en compte l’écologie dense des dispositifs et des réseaux qui font tenir les mondes numériques.
