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)

The rise of smart cities reveals a fundamental tension between the promise of integrating urban data and the need to compartmentalize it, particularly when services rely on the use of personal information. Smart city policies promote the seamless, cross-cutting flow of data within integrated infrastructures, while a range of regulations—notably the French Data Protection Act (1978), supplemented by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, 2018)—strictly define the conditions for the collection, use, and retention of information. In this study, we demonstrate that, far beyond a simple dichotomy between technological visions and legal norms, the challenges related to the production, circulation, use, and protection of data that may affect individuals’ privacy actively shape the materiality of projects, technical architectures, governance frameworks, and the ways in which residents appropriate them. The core of this study is based on an empirical corpus collected in Dijon (France) between January 2019 and February 2022. It draws on ethnographic observations in public spaces, participant observation in working meetings, individual and group interviews with project stakeholders, as well as a questionnaire on digital technology, the smart city, and privacy. Drawing on the case of Dijon (Chapter 1), this study analyzes how privacy is distributed, expressed, and embodied throughout the design, deployment, and maintenance of a smart city. At first glance, from a management perspective, privacy appears to be a non-issue (Chapter 2): it is rarely discussed politically, is often presented as being under control from the design phase onward, is seldom prioritized by technical operators, and is almost entirely absent from citizens’ concerns. This lack of attention raises questions about the conditions under which privacy issues go unnoticed. The concept of “sociotechnical ambiguity” serves here as a heuristic tool, examined through five analytical lenses: by stages of the smart city project (Chapter 3), by thematic projects (Chapter 4), by actors (Chapter 5), by technical systems (Chapter 6), and by data (Chapter 7). With regard to residents (Chapter 8), we show that the smart city does not spark public controversy at the local level, as it remains discreet, integrated into an already dense digital daily life and barely perceptible in users’ experiences. When asked about their use of services they identify as part of the smart city, residents demonstrate a diffuse, context-specific, and rarely politicized engagement with these issues. In Dijon, privacy protection relies less on a unified framework than on the fragmented structure of the project’s activities themselves. We refer to this dynamic as the “paradox of fragmentation”: it can be interpreted both as an indicator of the inefficiency of integrated data management and as a factor limiting the flow of personal data. While this fragmentation protects individuals and ensures controlled use of smart city data, it simultaneously limits the expected benefits of digital integration. Similar configurations and dynamics emerge in other contexts (Chapter 9). As part of the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), this work demonstrates that privacy is a discrete yet structuring factor—on legal, political, organizational, and technological levels—in the implementation and adoption of smart cities.

Composition du jury :

• Corinne Delmas, University Professor, Gustave Eiffel University – LATTS (Chair of the Selection Committee)
• Florence Millerand, University Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (Rapporteur)
• Gérald Gaglio, University Professor, Université Côte d’Azur (Rapporteur)
• Alexandre Mathieu-Fritz, University Professor, Université Gustave Eiffel (Thesis Advisor)
• Éric Dagiral, Associate Professor, Université Paris Cité (Examiner)
• Antoine Courmont, Associate Professor, Université Gustave Eiffel – LATTS (Examiner)
• Cécile Caron, Research Engineer in Sociology, GRETS–SEQUOIA, EDF R&D (Invited Member)

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?

This thesis analyses the relationship between the design and implementation of new IT tools aimed at achieving integrated information management within an organisation, and the resulting changes in organisational design and practices.

This is a recurring theme in sociological analysis, the relevance and topicality of which are ensured by successive technological developments that are constantly reshaping the world of work. As a result, new issues regularly emerge and demand the attention of researchers working in this field.

To understand this relationship, we examined how proposals for a new integrated information system and a new organisational model are formulated, and who formulates them, as well as the references made by one project to the other. We are also interested in how the various stakeholders—both internal and external to the organisation, including designers and users of information systems, as well as the organisation’s managers and employees—perceive and position themselves in relation to the two projects, which in a sense represent organisational innovations.

Our aim is to analyse the ‘internal dynamics of innovation’ within a public organisation by examining how, from the late 1990s onwards, one of the ‘most emblematic’ forms of managerial innovation of recent decades—integrated information management—was introduced within the French tax administration.

With remote working, employees no longer need to come into the office on a fixed and regular basis; some workstations remain unoccupied, and the future of commercial property can be reimagined. This is what companies are doing by implementing the flex-office model. It involves doing away with designated workstations by providing fewer desks than there are employees, thereby ensuring a rotation in the use of space. It aims to fulfil a dual management objective: on the one hand, to modernise management through more flexible organisational methods, and on the other, to meet the need to reduce property costs.

Its implementation relies on a significant process of decision-making and negotiation involving senior management, who work in tandem with a rapidly growing sector: workplace design consultancy. Together, these factors have a considerable impact on and transform the way work is carried out within the organisation. The hypothesis underpinning the thesis is therefore that flex-office projects are driven by a variety of stakeholders with multiple rationales: on the one hand, corporate negotiators and decision-makers torn between financial and managerial interests; and on the other, the diverse range of consultancy services on offer.

We must therefore ask whether there are different approaches to designing flex-office projects, by examining who the key players are and what power dynamics lie behind management and consultancy teams, and then assessing whether these projects make meaningful provision for the realities of work and their complexity.

The thesis analyzes how the “smart city” is becoming institutionalized within French local authorities. It draws on the concepts of local public entrepreneurship, interstices, the circulation of models, and translation. It focuses on three different areas: La Rochelle, a medium-sized city; Paris-Saclay, part of a metropolis; and the Communauté de Communes du Pays Haut Val d’Alzette, a rural area on the border with Luxembourg. Across all three areas, there is a clear quest for existence on the part of the departments in charge of information systems. Their directors, who are effectively local public entrepreneurs, sometimes working with elected officials, play a pivotal role: they take advantage of institutional gaps to experiment locally with socio-technical systems (urban data platforms, digital services) and strive to interest other local actors in these digital innovations, thereby strengthening their own local authority. These initiatives do not arise in a vacuum: national and European funding is essential, as is the presence of various advisors and consultants. These localized projects are thus part of a dynamic and sometimes contested circulation of various public and private models. In all cases, the crystallization process that leads to the commoditization of the “smart city” is the result of a long process of repetition, displacement, and extension.

Composition of the jury

• Gilles Jeannot, University Professor, Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées, Thesis Director
• Cécile Blatrix, University Professor, Agro-Paris Tech, Rapporteur
• Renaud Epstein, University Professor, Sciences Po Saint Germain en Laye, Rapporteur
• Antoine Courmont, Senior Lecturer, Gustave Eiffel University, Examiner
• Mathieu Vidal, Senior Lecturer, Institut National Universitaire Champollion, Examiner
• Nadia Arab, University Professor, Paris School of Urban Planning, University of Paris Est Créteil, Chair

Environmental risks, terrorist threats, health risks, identity-related risks, food safety risks, educational risks… the list of risks on which we are expected to take a stance seems to grow a little longer every day. Some sociologists see this as the emergence of a genuine ‘risk society’, undermining all the key principles of wealth redistribution inherited from past centuries. The process is said to have begun in France at the end of the 19th century with the issue of workplace accidents, which were gradually addressed by laws authorising compensation for many workers in exchange for the introduction of compulsory insurance for all.

Since then, the management and prevention of risks through insurance have clearly become ubiquitous, even indispensable, in the daily lives of everyone, whenever they wish to travel or find accommodation, for example. Our thesis project aims to understand how this evolution is manifested and continues today, at a time when digital tools, giving rise to new models, could lead us to rethink the definition of the risks surrounding us.

More specifically, we propose to examine the characteristics of a particular social group, namely ‘actuaries’ – statisticians specialising in the insurance sector, whose work focuses on assessing and defining the risks to which a given population is exposed.

When the first pilot tenders were launched in 2003, offshore wind power looked set for a bright future along the French coastline. Nineteen years later, only one wind farm is generating electricity, whilst all the initially planned production targets have been postponed. Behind the scenes, the state’s role in shaping offshore wind energy policy deserves to be scrutinised and placed within the broader context of energy transition policies.

Whilst the State is the main driving force, it does not have a free hand: offshore wind power is a classic example of multi-level governance, where all levels (local, national and supranational) have the capacity to act. Through the general process of planning (spatial and sectoral), conceptions of technology and territory will be shaped, as well as the role of the State and local authorities in general, whether political, economic or community-based. This thesis therefore aims to examine the development of offshore wind energy through the lens of its planning processes (past and present).

By understanding the decision-making processes and the scope for action of the relevant stakeholders (the State, RTE, interest groups, local authorities, etc.), the study aims to shed light on the processes driving the regionalisation of offshore wind power and the multi-level governance mechanisms at work.