Govern, organize, work (GOT)

Presenter: David Guéranger

By studying professionals in the health, legal and insurance sectors, the actions of local authorities, energy and climate policies, institutional reforms, management and work organisation, researchers in this research area are confronted with issues or contexts of ‘transitions’ or ‘transformations’. Under these terms, the people surveyed express having to cope with profound changes, bringing with them major challenges of conversion or adaptation. Without subscribing to the idea of mechanical or inevitable change, the researchers in this research area take these analogous descriptions seriously, along with the different ways of problematising them. Drawing on various sociological traditions (sociologies of work, public action, organisations, public problems and engagement), their analyses focus on three key areas: the spaces and times of work; the use of digital tools within organisations; and political issues in the fields of energy and climate.

Two seminars punctuate the research group’s activities. One involves inviting authors of recent publications to present their work. The other (Pro-tech, standing for Profession and Technical Expertise) involves presenting and discussing research carried out within the research group, examining the role of technical expertise within it, particularly among the specialists we encounter in our studies (lawyers, healthcare professionals, actuaries, engineers). Their work indeed requires mastery of knowledge, skills, ways of demonstrating competence or efficiency, and tools or languages that are impenetrable to the layman. Echoing the technical lens that characterises much of the research conducted in the laboratory, the members of the research group here examine its practical implications, from the perspective of both the research itself and the ways in which it is reported.