The LATTS research group ‘Governing, Organising, Working’ (GOT) is organising a seminar on Thursday 21 May from 2pm to 4pm in room B235.

We are delighted to welcome Martial Vildard, who will present his recently published book L’accompagnement. Les habits neufs de l’autorité, published by Éditions du Croquant, 2026. The book explores work on the individual, professional support, power relations, and many other topics of interest to the laboratory’s members.

Book summary

Given the staggering number of books published each year on ‘coaching’ in business, schools, and sectors such as social work, integration, health, wellbeing, personal development and spirituality, it seems crucial to gain a better understanding of this widespread social phenomenon and the enthusiasm it generates. Sociology offers the opportunity to take a critical look at these ‘support practices’. This book presents an original sociological study based on three support activities – marriage counselling, professional coaching and spiritual counselling – to understand how they exercise a discreet form of authority. Through these mechanisms, a mode of governing behaviour emerges, based on the promotion of autonomy and the concealment of coercion. By shedding light on the mechanisms of this ‘veiled authority’, the book invites us to rethink contemporary forms of power.

The author

Martial Vildard holds a PhD in sociology, having graduated from the University of Paris Sciences et Lettres in 2022. He taught sociology at university during his PhD and now teaches economics and social sciences at secondary school level. His research focuses on authority and domination. He is an associate researcher at the GSRL laboratory (EPHE-CNRS).

The article GOT Research Group Seminar with Martial Vildard first appeared on LATTS - Laboratory for Territorial and Societal Techniques.