This research will focus on the interactions of safety officers working in high-risk companies. Our analysis of their work will be conducted from an organisational perspective, examining how the relationship between head office and industrial sites or construction sites is structured. As key players in safety, they carry out their work in contexts characterised by a rise in regulations, standards and processes, and therefore by an increasingly strong bureaucracy (in the sociological sense), particularly in facilities classified for environmental protection (ICPE). The aim here is to examine how, within this highly regulated and bureaucratic environment, they can develop, implement and drive a policy of prevention and anticipation that combines both regulated and managed safety.

In an increasingly regulated working environment, occupational health and safety professionals are seeing a rise in bureaucracy that tends to create a divide within their work between occupational safety and operational safety (Rae et al., 2019), which, for some professionals, can contribute to a growing sense of ‘blues’ in their practice (Le Coze, 2024). The tendency for organisations to attempt to address in advance and formally the multiple requirements they set themselves or which are imposed upon them (ambitious economic targets, regulatory constraints, vigilance regarding risks now extending to include cybersecurity) encourages the production of standards that raise questions about how these relate to site-specific circumstances.

How can this be reconciled with site-specific contexts? How can we strike a balance between central standards and the constraints and challenges faced by sites in their role as prevention practitioners? Our subject places us at the crossroads of several traditional approaches within sociology, and the social sciences more generally: the analysis of organisations, their dynamics and, in particular, the relationships between actors; the analysis of activity; and the analysis of occupational dynamics and professional identities. We will situate our approach at this intersection, anchoring the study in an analysis of the activities of occupational safety professionals within a multidisciplinary field shaped by safety science (Le Coze, 2019). The company chosen as the field of study is a high-risk industry.

In a manner relevant to the thesis and our research question, the organisation has implemented a reorganisation aimed, amongst other things, at decentralising the work of its prevention officers from head office in order to bring them closer to the sites. This organisational change provides a particularly suitable context for understanding the dynamics at play in the role of prevention officer from the perspective of interactions between head office and the sites. It also has the advantage of potentially revealing the transformations that will take place in terms of perceptions of their practice and the profession more generally, or even the construction and application of rules. Having access to a structure in flux and observing it through an ethnographic approach also allows us to see how the construction of safety may evolve.

This will provide an opportunity to consider whether this decentralisation has enabled a new type of organisational structure, facilitating the creation of forums for discussion and spaces for communication, with a view to pooling information to be fed back to head office. One might also ask whether prevention workers have seized upon this change to influence standards (Gherardi, 2019). We can observe whether other tools or spaces have been deployed to disseminate information in a uniform manner to sites with very different characteristics.

In the context of a globalised, highly competitive economy that increasingly relies on companies’ ability to manage information that is both volatile and crucial, the relationships between companies and their environment are expanding and fundamentally reshaping innovation processes. As a new manifestation of the dialectical complementarity between innovation and organisation, companies’ openness to increasingly complex external ecosystems makes the ability to integrate the talents of dispersed individuals and organisations a crucial skill for managers and firms.

Online user communities, which are integrated into the innovation processes of certain large companies, provide a unique example of organisations opening up to their ecosystem. Exploring the variety of structures, actors, resources and skills deployed by companies in managing these communities will be one of the main focuses of our research. In particular, we will focus on the role of the user community facilitator who, as a figure situated at the organisation’s periphery, must act as a translator between the diverse representational systems of users and those of the company. We will seek to understand how this translation takes place and how users’ experiences and expertise are integrated into innovative offerings currently being designed.

From the users’ perspective, the aim of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of both the ways in which users engage with these co-innovation platforms and the reasons behind their involvement. Given that an increasing number of user-centred co-innovation sites offer rewards (such as gift vouchers, concert tickets, etc.), the aim will be to determine whether individuals’ engagement in these schemes is more a matter of leisure activities, or, on the contrary, a complement to their professional activities; the Manichean opposition between these two categories is, of course, intended to be transcended, perhaps through the definition of an intermediate category between leisure time and working time, of which the social web (Web 2.0) would be the indicator

Since the mid-1990s, the armed forces have faced organisational changes that have called into question certain founding principles of the contemporary French military. The concept of the ‘revolution in military affairs’ has come to be used to describe the range of restructuring measures faced by Western armed forces during this period: professionalisation, changes in missions, and the digitisation of the battlefield (NEB). This field of research has generated a wealth of literature, characterised by multidisciplinary contributions (sociology, political science, management science, history, etc.) which illustrate the interest of the social sciences and the military institution in these issues. It is recognised that the Digitalisation of the Battlefield (NEB) constitutes one of the three major ‘transformations’ that have shaped the Army over the past twenty years (Lebraty, 2010). The introduction of information and command systems (SIR, SICF, CITEL) in the late 2000s and their widespread adoption across regiments during the 2010s represented a major turning point in military equipment and, subsequently, in the structure of the armed forces and the methods of conducting military operations (Godet-Sanchez, 2008). This trend continues as the armed forces are engaged in the development of new technical systems (Scorpion, Titan) and the associated doctrinal considerations.

Thus, like various sectors of activity and a wide range of professions, the military sector is no exception to the trend sometimes referred to as ‘digitalisation’ (Bouiller, 2016).Information and command systems, and more recently artificial intelligence, are the subject of numerous technological promises, which claim to herald a revolution in the purposes served by the armed forces, in military equipment and even in soldiers’ practices. This research project aims to better understand the realities associated with this introduction of digital technology in its most recent forms, through an analysis of operational activity. The thesis will seek to understand how digital technology is integrated into the operational activities of regiments, how it fits into the broader ecosystem of tools used by military personnel, and how combat practices are consequently reshaped to varying degrees. The focus will be on the adoption of new equipment, the effects on individual and collective professional practices, and the potential transformation of these practices and forms of collaboration and cooperation in an operational environment. This research thus aims to make a twofold contribution: to our understanding of the effects of the introduction of digital technology in the armed forces and the corresponding changes; and to the emerging sociology of military activity (Jankowski, Thura, Muxel et al., 2021).

The thesis will focus specifically on the digitisation of the battlefield and will seek to answer the following question: how does the prescribed and actual use of information and communication systems in an operational context contribute to redefining ‘military combat activity ’ (Bardiès, 2011) (practices, skills, hierarchical relationships, environment, etc.); and the subsequent effects on the organisational structure of the Army’s tactical groups. To this end, we will endeavour to carry out a detailed analysis of the activity undertaken, of the visible and less visible dimensions of what is being done, of the materiality of the work and in particular the handling of tools, and to seek to understand the practices, the actions, their logic, and their individual as well as collective aspects. Several subsidiary questions will inform this research, such as the effects of ICT on officers’ decision-making autonomy and individual strategies to avoid the potential loss of their traditional prerogatives; organisational changes (increased control and reporting or the maintenance of a constant level of subsidiarity); and the actors’ perceptions of technical transformations, etc.

Surveillance cameras have been a feature of our urban – and even rural – landscapes for several years now. However, these devices have not resolved all the issues that led to their deployment in many public spaces. One of the solutions proposed to address this shortcoming of video surveillance is therefore to add automatic detection software to the existing system. These additional modules come in various forms: people counting, vehicle type detection, fly-tipping detection, analysis of abnormal situations, facial recognition, etc. The first applications of these new forms of video surveillance took place in France, although they are not as widespread as in other countries.

This thesis aims to offer initial reflections on these new surveillance tools and the context in which they operate, examining them from three main perspectives. The first of these concerns the scientific developments that contribute to the development of these new surveillance solutions. The second focuses on the public debate surrounding automated video surveillance and the specific form that this debate takes. The third and final aspect examines the uses, mostly experimental, taking place in France, as well as the objectives and conditions of these applications.

With regard to the first aspect, this study aims to demonstrate the particular importance of infrastructure to the success of these artificial intelligence tools. Whether at the development stage or during use, artificial intelligence relies heavily on all the tools and resources deployed in its operation. Data, networks and sensors act as filters through which the software’s processing passes, imposing technical limitations. Regarding the second aspect, the research has explored the issue of how these technical solutions are presented, promoted or criticised as a problem, both in public debates and within economic spheres. It emerges that, despite widespread criticism within society, economic arguments dominate in official reports. Regarding the third aspect, whilst there is no consensus on the subject of automated surveillance, the thesis analyses the range of strategies and resources deployed to build a market for automated video surveillance nonetheless.

Jury members:
Gilles JEANNOT, ENPC, Thesis Supervisor
; Anne-Cécile DOUILLET, University of Lille, Examiner;
Sylvain PARASIE, Sciences Po Paris, Examiner;
Valérie NOVEMBER, CNRS, Examiner;
Clément MABI, UTC, Examiner

The law of the 20th of August 2008 « on the renewal of social democracy » brought important changes to professional elections in companies. Previously strictly circumscribed to internal company issues, the elections of employee representatives now also determine the access and weight of trade union organizations in collective bargaining. By calling employees to the ballot box, the reform aims to democratically justify the powers granted by the State to organizations considered as « representative ». Nevertheless, research has shown that the conditions in companies were not always met to make voting a vector of democratization. Within the framework of professional elections, the vote is rather an object of dispute between actors (trade unions, candidates but also informally the management of the company) who seek to legitimize their own interests. This situation is particularly clear in the cleaning sector, where employees usually have precarious statuses. The thesis will focus on the way in which the actors have grasped the reform, the transformations in the elections (in terms of organization and results) and the consequent changes in industrial relations at the branch level.

The rise of ‘Web 2.0’, commonly referred to as the participatory or social web, has revived the term ‘community’ to describe the spontaneous gathering of internet users around topics of discussion or shared projects. As computerised platforms for exchanging information and content develop – foremost among them Facebook and Twitter – advertisers are investing heavily in establishing a presence on these platforms, in the form of brand pages and accounts, to capitalise on internet users’ expressiveness through the lens of the ‘brand community’. The management of these innovative promotional spaces is entrusted to a new category of service providers – community managers – tasked with promoting organisations’ offerings and responding to consumers’ constant demand for information.

It is this dual mechanism—the commercial reinterpretation of online communities and the strategic aims of their administration—that is examined here. Community management is treated as a practical endeavour, in order to understand how a marketing doctrine is embedded within a professional activity that is being reshaped by successive waves of rationalisation in digital brand communication. In doing so, this research aims to contribute to a pragmatic sociology that refuses to reify the process of ‘digital transformation’ in our societies, in order to describe how this process is enacted by a plurality of actors working to align the expressiveness of connected consumers with the needs of businesses.

Members of the jury

• Pierre-Jean Benghozi, Research Director at the CNRS, Professor at École Polytechnique
• Franck Cochoy, Professor at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès (rapporteur)
• Alexandre Mallard, Research Director at Mines ParisTech (rapporteur)
• Sylvain Parasie, Senior Lecturer at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (joint supervisor)
• Dominique Pasquier, Research Director at the CNRS, Télécom ParisTech
• Pascal Ughetto, Professor at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (supervisor)

Sofia Laborde holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of the Republic (Uruguay) and has eight years’ experience in public policy management in Uruguay. In 2017, she undertook a master’s degree in sociology at the doctoral school of Sciences Po Paris in order to change career direction and move into research.

Since April 2020, she has been working on a CIFRE PhD with Gustave Eiffel University and EDF’s R&D department. She is researching the socio-technical approach to privacy in smart cities. She is a member of LATTS (academia) and GRETS (industry), and a contributor to EDF’s TRACES project (Digital Technology, Privacy and Society).

The term ‘smart city’ is a broad concept describing an approach to the computerised automation of various urban network management processes (G. Jeannot and S. Bernardin, 2019). It involves the digitisation of traditional urban functions, the installation of sensors to manage public spaces in new ways, the development of public policies on open data for the purposes of transparency or to encourage innovation, and the creation of new, increasingly personalised services for citizens. This approach relies on the creation of complex information systems (D. Guéranger and A. Mathieu-Fritz, 2019) capable of integrating, processing and analysing data on technical infrastructure and individual behaviour within the urban environment (A. Picon, 2018).

Smart city information systems process a wide range of personal and non-personal data. This data comes from three sources: the local authority itself; companies that provide public services or manage utilities (energy, water); and residents, who may generate it voluntarily or in the form of digital traces. To date, the regional or corporate marketing of these projects has made a series of promises, including the integrated management of municipal services and respect for citizens’ privacy, but little is known about the approach taken by smart city managers to deliver on these promises.

This research project revisits a classic question in sociology: the value of understanding how individuals or collective actors manage the relationship between the public and private spheres, in this case in the context of socio-technical changes (drawing on G. Simmel, 1909). It focuses on an area as yet unexplored by this discipline: the intersection between privacy and the information systems of ‘smart cities’.

From the perspective of combinatorial ethnography (N. Dodier and I. Baszanger, 1997), this thesis analyses empirical data drawn from a primary field site (the city of Dijon in France) and at least one additional field site (Turku in Finland). By moving between different projects, first in Dijon and then in Turku, this project aims to accumulate a series of specific cases and identify different forms of action and their possible combinations regarding privacy in smart cities.

In this thesis, we examine the relationship between voluntary organisations and public authorities through the lens of the Local Support Scheme (DLA).

In the first part of this thesis, we examine the origins and structure of the DLA. We observe that the DLA is a public employment policy, the implementation of which is delegated to implementing bodies, and that its aim is to help employers’ associations secure their jobs and consolidate their business model. An examination of the origins of this public policy reveals the State’s growing interest in the economic aspects of associations and the number of jobs they provide. In the second part, we focus on those who implement it: the practitioners of this public policy. Whilst the scheme is structured and framed, the role of DLA project officers is nevertheless ‘open’; they have considerable leeway in carrying out their work. However, despite this flexibility, they share a concern for employment, and the work to promote employment is being done. This analysis leads us to suggest that the scheme under study constitutes a form of governance through support. Finally, in the third part, we describe the scheme’s impact on its beneficiaries as ‘contemporary professionalisation’. ‘Associative enterprises’ are encouraged to structure their work organisation, to diversify their resources, but also to take action to safeguard their jobs. The DLA also plays a part in establishing management systems within associations that employ staff: these are strategically adopted by both association leaders and public authorities. Finally, the study of relations between associations and public authorities shows that the latter are fragmented, creating an uncertain and competitive environment for associations.

The trends we have observed offer insights that go beyond the effects of the DLA; indeed, the scheme merely accelerates a process that is already underway. Ultimately, the changes taking place within the voluntary sector appear to be the result of shifts in the environment in which these organisations operate, which is itself largely shaped by the public authorities.

Members of the jury

• Philippe Bezes, CNRS Research Director, Centre for European Studies at Sciences Po
• Valérie Boussard, Professor, University of Paris-Ouest-Nanterre-La-Défense
• Bernard Gomel, CNRS Research Fellow, Centre for Employment Studies
• Matthieu Hély, Professor, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
• Gilles Jeannot, Research Fellow at HRD, LATTS, École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
• Maud Simonet, CNRS Research Fellow, IDHES, University of Paris-Ouest-Nanterre-La-Défense

The thesis examines the role of American universities in the division between fine art and folk art, with a particular focus on the training and professionalisation of artists. This analysis is based on the example of ceramicists in the state of Georgia (in the south-east of the United States), and the research is based on semi-structured interviews with potters and sculptors.

The thesis adopts a socio-historical approach and offers a comparative perspective, highlighting the distinctive features of the cultural landscape in the United States.

The thesis is divided into three main sections.

The first section traces the establishment of potters in the nineteenth century within a rural economy, the virtual disappearance of this type of utilitarian production in the twentieth century (as a result of industrialisation), and the role played by American universities in the preservation of ‘folk potters’ as cultural heritage.

The second part focuses on the emergence of the ‘professional group’ of ceramicists, alongside a process of institutionalisation within universities between the 1950s and 1980s, against a backdrop of exponential growth in higher education in the United States.

The third section is devoted to an analysis of the current structure of this professional field: with university budgets under pressure, achieving the status of a ceramics professor has become an ideal attained by only a privileged few. This section seeks to shed light on the diversity of existing roles within this field, which is characterised both by close ties between practitioners and fierce competition.

Composition of the jury:

• Marc Perrenoud, Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow, University of Lausanne, Rapporteur
• Frédéric Poulard, University Professor, Université Paris Cité, Rapporteur
• Sonia Birocheau, Senior Lecturer, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Examiner
• Elizabeth Browne, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia, United States, Examiner
• Alexandre Mathieu-Fritz, University Professor, Gustave Eiffel University, Examiner
• Corinne Delmas, University Professor, Gustave Eiffel University, PhD supervisor
• Flora Bajard, Research Fellow, CNRS, Co-supervisor

The thesis focuses on digital technology and the dynamics of innovation in higher education through the study of two open-source software programmes – the self-marking online exercise systems WIMS and PL – which are developed, maintained and used by academic staff. The first has been in use for around twenty years but is facing the obsolescence of its source code. The second is supported by a small section of the community and is still in the development phase at the IGM. The aim is to produce a sociological analysis at the intersection of the sociology of science and technology and the sociology of work, with a strong focus on the interactionist approach.

This thesis examines the existence of a sales role within the Orange company. It aims to trace, through an analysis of activities across the company’s various sales channels (retail outlets, call centres, online), the development of professional practices, identities and collective dynamics within sales teams. The thesis proposes to draw a parallel between these developments and the evolution of the company’s sales organisation, which has resulted in profound changes to the management of sales staff (assessment and remuneration, workspaces, IT environment, etc.). The thesis will therefore seek to demonstrate how sales staff are reshaping their profession within an organisation that is questioning the role of sales in its operations.

Members of the jury

• Alexandre MALLARD, Research Director, Mines ParisTech (rapporteur)
• Frédéric NEYRAT, University Professor, University of Rouen (rapporteur)
• Gérald GAGLIO, Professor, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis
• Sandrine BARREY, Senior Lecturer, University of Toulouse Jean-Jaurès
• Marie BENEDETTO-MEYER, Associate Lecturer, University of Versailles St-Quentin
• Pascal UGHETTO, University Professor, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (supervisor)

Both globally and nationally, there is a growing trend towards urban concentration that is challenging the existing institutional framework. In France, Act III of the decentralisation process, implemented through recent laws on territorial organisation, has brought about a profound restructuring of territorial powers, particularly to the benefit of metropolitan areas. These areas are increasingly taking charge of energy issues, with a view to using them as a means of enhancing their capabilities and controlling the implementation of energy strategies within their territories.

In this thesis, we will analyse the restructuring of the actors involved in local energy governance against the backdrop of the rise of the metropolitan phenomenon, comparing several French metropolitan areas through three analytical lenses: What energy strategies for metropolitan areas? What capacity do metropolitan areas have for internal governance in the energy sector? What form of governance is required for the metropolitan area in the face of the emergence of new actors and the challenge to the established players in energy systems?