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Books by Arnaud Sales

‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and... more ‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and reappraises sociological theories focused on movement rather than on order, on structuration processes rather than on social reproduction, so as to shed light on the permanent transformation of social life triggered by human action. These theories categorized by Joas as the ‘theories of the constitution of society’ (Joas, 1992/1996: 6, 230) seek to clarify the question of the traditionally
contradictory relationship between human agency and structure. They have loosened the deterministic grip structures were said to have on the behaviors and practices of social agents. Their contribution through the many proposed interpretations has been considerable. But the literature review raised a series of questions, which I have tried to address in this chapter. The first is related to the concept of social actor, particularly the active status we assign to individual and institutional actors. One of the main questions is to determine whether organizations can be recognized as actors with a capacity for action and structuration. The implications for the analysis are quite significant.
The second question addresses the conceptualization of structures and how they impact on the behaviors of social agents. Proponents of constitution theories do not always agree on the usefulness of the concept of structure, and define it differently. Should we follow Giddens, who defines structure as rules and resources, or Archer, who defines it as reproducible/transformable systemic anteriorities pre-dating action or Sztompka, who defines it as entities such as societies and civilizations? Are structures simply internalized by human agents in the form of ‘memory traces’ as Giddens suggests? Or do we need to assign them some anteriority and exteriority? How do large-scale transformations occur and what constraints are imposed by such transformations? In the light of the complexity of social life, we have to acknowledge that its structural features can only be conceptualized from a multidimensional and multilevel perspective and must constantly be related to human actors and their praxis.
In this re-examination of the concept of structure, we need to recognize the effects of socialization and experience on individuals, and hence the internalization of certain structural features as part of a ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu, 1972), defined as an individual structural ‘matrix’. We also have to recognize the anteriority and exteriority of our heritage in the form of works of civilization defined here as structural referents for practices and creativity selectively mediatized through specialized knowledge. This reference to anterior productions is not static, but in many cases is reinterpreted, hybridized or ignored through creative action aimed at finding new solutions to problems, dilemmas or projects.
We also have to discuss the role of rules, norms and laws. Against the revival of the deterministic approach by some neo-institutionalist theories, we need to acknowledge the far freer view social agents have of rules in ‘de-traditionalized’ societies. This implies an ambivalent approach to the rapport agents have with rules, which will be defined herein as structural procedural elements for framing, stabilizing and predicting action, knowing that one can, to a point, escape from or even transform them.
As structural procedural elements or referents, repertoires of rules or works of civilization never do anything on their own. The question thatremains then is: Can specific networked configurations be interpreted as ‘active’ structures? In response, I would like to introduce the concept of Active Reticular Structure, which I define as a network of human actors and corporate actors that succeeds – within the context of complex, large-scale structuration and change processes – in imposing a model that then locks in the path of change. Beyond the initial active network, a new structural configuration emerges, which, by limiting available choices, renders the model increasingly constraining under the action of actors and agents.

Papers by Arnaud Sales

Contemporary Sociology, Jul 1, 1981

Sociologie Du Travail, 1973

Sales Arnaud. Wilbur G. Lewellen, The Ownership Income of Management, 1971. In: Sociologie du tra... more Sales Arnaud. Wilbur G. Lewellen, The Ownership Income of Management, 1971. In: Sociologie du travail, 15ᵉ année n°1, Janvier-mars 1973. pp. 103-105

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, Mar 10, 2014

‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and... more ‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and reappraises sociological theories focused on movement rather than on order, on structuration processes rather than on social reproduction, so as to shed light on the permanent transformation of social life triggered by human action. These theories categorized by Joas as the ‘theories of the constitution of society’ (Joas, 1992/1996: 6, 230) seek to clarify the question of the traditionally contradictory relationship between human agency and structure. They have loosened the deterministic grip structures were said to have on the behaviors and practices of social agents. Their contribution through the many proposed interpretations has been considerable. But the literature review raised a series of questions, which I have tried to address in this chapter. The first is related to the concept of social actor, particularly the active status we assign to individual and institutional actors. One of the main questions is to determine whether organizations can be recognized as actors with a capacity for action and structuration. The implications for the analysis are quite significant. The second question addresses the conceptualization of structures and how they impact on the behaviors of social agents. Proponents of constitution theories do not always agree on the usefulness of the concept of structure, and define it differently. Should we follow Giddens, who defines structure as rules and resources, or Archer, who defines it as reproducible/transformable systemic anteriorities pre-dating action or Sztompka, who defines it as entities such as societies and civilizations? Are structures simply internalized by human agents in the form of ‘memory traces’ as Giddens suggests? Or do we need to assign them some anteriority and exteriority? How do large-scale transformations occur and what constraints are imposed by such transformations? In the light of the complexity of social life, we have to acknowledge that its structural features can only be conceptualized from a multidimensional and multilevel perspective and must constantly be related to human actors and their praxis. In this re-examination of the concept of structure, we need to recognize the effects of socialization and experience on individuals, and hence the internalization of certain structural features as part of a ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu, 1972), defined as an individual structural ‘matrix’. We also have to recognize the anteriority and exteriority of our heritage in the form of works of civilization defined here as structural referents for practices and creativity selectively mediatized through specialized knowledge. This reference to anterior productions is not static, but in many cases is reinterpreted, hybridized or ignored through creative action aimed at finding new solutions to problems, dilemmas or projects. We also have to discuss the role of rules, norms and laws. Against the revival of the deterministic approach by some neo-institutionalist theories, we need to acknowledge the far freer view social agents have of rules in ‘de-traditionalized’ societies. This implies an ambivalent approach to the rapport agents have with rules, which will be defined herein as structural procedural elements for framing, stabilizing and predicting action, knowing that one can, to a point, escape from or even transform them. As structural procedural elements or referents, repertoires of rules or works of civilization never do anything on their own. The question thatremains then is: Can specific networked configurations be interpreted as ‘active’ structures? In response, I would like to introduce the concept of Active Reticular Structure, which I define as a network of human actors and corporate actors that succeeds – within the context of complex, large-scale structuration and change processes – in imposing a model that then locks in the path of change. Beyond the initial active network, a new structural configuration emerges, which, by limiting available choices, renders the model increasingly constraining under the action of actors and agents.

Canadian Public Policy-analyse De Politiques, 1981

Canadian Review Of Sociology/revue Canadienne De Sociologie, Nov 1, 1992

La mobilit6 intersectorielle des 6lites technocratiques du public et du priv6 ARNAUD SALES Uniuer... more La mobilit6 intersectorielle des 6lites technocratiques du public et du priv6 ARNAUD SALES Uniuersitd ak Montrdal* One of the important social phenomena of the last 30 years is without doubt the accelerated creation in enterprises and state apparatuses of hundreds of thousands of executive and managerial positions integrated into increasingly complex and widespread managerial hierarchies. This paper deals with the movement of executives between state bureaucracies and large private enterprises and its impact on the interpenetration of the executive circles. Through a comparative approach, we begin by showing the diversity that exists among national models of circulation of senior officers between the two sectors. Based on data on senior civil servants and executives of large enterprises in Quebec, we then show the patterns of mobility of management personnel between the public and the private sectors. This analysis enables us to describe the extent and the orientation of intersectorial mobility. We attempt to highlight and to explain the essential characteristics of the movement of technocratic elites in Quebec and in Canada. More specifically, we will show that, for the Canadian institutional context, we cannot retain the thesis of interchangeability of technocratic elites which states that the movement of personnel between state apparatuses and large private enterprises is high. * Je remercie Manon Monette et Micheline Ostoj pour la collaboration apporthe dans la phase exploratoire de cette recherche. Celle-ci a 6th men& grAce aux subventions du Conseil de la Langue franMse du Qu6bec et du Fonds FCAR du Gouvernement du QuBbec. Je remercie aussi trbs vivement An& J. Nlanger et James Iain Gow et les trois Bvaluateurs anonymes pour leur lecture critique attentive et leurs trbs utiles suggestions. Ce manuscrit a 6t6 rqu en juin 1989 et accept6 en f6vrier 1992.

Recherches sociographiques, Apr 12, 2005

Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y ... more Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit.

Sociologie et sociétés, Sep 30, 2002

Canadian Review Of Sociology/revue Canadienne De Sociologie, Jul 14, 2008

Le monde étudiant est profondément marqué par la diversité des tra‐jectoires individuelles, qui s... more Le monde étudiant est profondément marqué par la diversité des tra‐jectoires individuelles, qui sont souvent très éloignées d'un déroule‐ment linéaire des études. Les conséquences sur l'âge des étudiants sont majeures, et la condition étudiante ne peut plus être définie comme une expérience strictement juvénile. Or, entre 20 et 30 ans, l'âge engendre des impératifs différentiels sur le plan des conditions et des modes de vie qui ne sont pas toujours compatibles avec la condition étudiante classique. Cette étude des parcours et de la situation financière des étudiants des universités québécoises de langue françhise et anglaise montre comment s'opère la déconnexion entre jeunesse et condition étudiante, et comment cette déconnexion influe sur la différenciation des conditions de vie et de financement des études.Student life is profoundly marked by the diversity of individual trajectories, which are in stark contrast with the linear path traditionally taken by students. The impact on the age of the student population is significant: indeed, student life can no longer be qualified as strictly for the young. Between the ages of 20 and 30 years, different imperatives come into play in terms of living conditions and lifestyle. These imperatives are not always compatible with the conditions of classic student life. This study of the academic paths and the financial situation of Quebec university students shows how the disconnection between student condition and youth occurs and how this disconnection impacts the differentiation of student's living conditions and modes of financing university studies.

International Studies of Management and Organization, Sep 1, 1972

The enterprise (or the firm) in classical or economic literature most often appears as a closed u... more The enterprise (or the firm) in classical or economic literature most often appears as a closed universe centered around its internal relations, its functioning, or as a set of factors of production employed to maximize profits, and whose relationship with the environment is limited to relations with the "market." However, certain studies have enlarged these perspectives by seeking to define either the relationship of the firm to the environment or the environment itself. Others have emphasized the political nature of entrepreneurial decisions with a view toward resituating the firm in its relation to the total society. In this article we intend to review some of these studies. On the Industrial Nature of the Firm It is not rare to find chapters in industrial sociology textbooks (1,2) devoted to the environment of the firm or of indus-This is a revised version of: "L'entreprise et son environnement," Sociologie et Soci~h~s (Canada), n, 1 (May 1970, pp. 107-122. Reprinted with permiSSion of the University of Montreal Press. The translation is by Lorne Huston (University of Montreal). Professor Sales is a member of the Sociology Department of the University of Montreal.

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Nov 15, 1990

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2000

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Of Consensus, Tensions and Sociology at the Dawn of the 21st Century - Ste... more PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Of Consensus, Tensions and Sociology at the Dawn of the 21st Century - Stella Quah and Arnaud Sales PART TWO: CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES The Moving Frontier of the Social Sciences - Mattei Dogan Rational Choice Theory in Sociology - Thomas Voss and Martin Abraham A Survey Feminist Theory and Critical Reconceptualization in Sociology - Rhoda Reddock The Challenge of the 1990s The Challenge of Modernity/Postmodernity to the Classical Heritage in Sociology of Religion - Ivan Varga PART THREE: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENTIATION The Fourth Generation of Comparative Stratification Research - Donald J Treiman and Harry B G Ganzeboom The 'Rediscovery' of Ethnicity - Christine Inglis Theory and Analysis PART FOUR: CHANGING INSTITUTIONS AND COLLECTIVE ACTION Sociology of the Family - Barbara H Settles Global Advances and Challenges International Political Sociology - Richard G Braungart and Margaret M Braungart Institutional Change in Armed Forces at the Dawning of the 21st Century - David R Segal and Nehama E Babin Social Movements - Bert Klandermans Trends and Turns Late Modern Institutions and Collective Action - Pierre Hamel, Henri Lustiger-Thaler and Louis Maheu PART FIVE: DEMOGRAPHY, CITIES AND HOUSING Conceptual and Methodological Advances and Challenges in Demography - Dudley L Poston Jr Urban Sociology - John Walton The Sociology of Housing - William Michelson and Willem Van Vliet PART SIX: ART AND LEISURE Sociology of the Art - Antoine Hennion and Line Grenier New Stakes in a Post-Critical Time The Collapse of the Leisure Society? - Gilles Pronovost New Challenges for the Sociology of Leisure Theoretical Advances in the Sociological Treatment of Tourism - Graham Dann PART SEVEN: ON SOCIAL PROBLEMS Unravelling Alienation - Deborah Kalekin-Fishman From an Omen of Doom to a Celebration of Diversity Medical Sociology at the Millennium - William C Cockerham Mental Health and Illness Research - Rumi Kato Price, Clyde R Pope, C A Green and S C Kinnevy Millennium and Beyond Recent Advances and Challenges in Sociotechnics - Jon Alexander Future Research and Sociological Analysis - Eleonora Barbieri Masini

Recherches sociographiques, Apr 12, 2005

Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1978

Recherches sociographiques, 1987

Sociologie et sociétés, 1987

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2012

PART I: INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Transformations in the Multiple Domains of a Turbulent World - Ar... more PART I: INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Transformations in the Multiple Domains of a Turbulent World - Arnaud Sales PART II: CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CHANGE Chapter 2: A Re-Appraisal of Agency-Structure Theories to Understand Social Change - Arnaud Sales Chapter 3: Global Society and Polyarchic Governance - Alberto Martinelli Chapter 4: Social Transformations and Knowledge - Nico Stehr & Bernd Weiler PART III: RECOMPOSITION OF THE POLITICAL DOMAIN AND CHALLENGES TO CIVIL SOCIETY Chapter 5: Political Sociology Responds to Change - Kay Lawson, Mildred Schwartz & Eva Etzioni-Halevy Chapter 6: Global Social Movements - Politics, Subjectivity and Human Rights - Pierre Hamel, Henri Lustiger-Thaler & Louis Maheu PART IV: THE TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANIZATIONS AND WORK Chapter 7: Transforming Organizations - Stewart Clegg Chapter 8: Transformations of Work in a Global Context - Employment Systems, Autonomy and Work-life Articulation as Main Challenges - Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay Chapter 9: Reconnections - Labour Sociologies in a Globalizing Era - Carla Lipsig-Mumme & Edward Webster Chapter 10: Returning to Professions - Julia Evetts PART V: THE TRANSFORMATION OF LIFE WORLD AND CULTURE Chapter 11: Challenging Women's Domination and Striving for Equity and the Respect of Difference - Ann Denis Chapter 12: Family Change and Lifecourse Development - Social Transformations on the Intimate Frontiers - Susan A. McDaniel Chapter 13: The Waning of Religious Beliefs in Thirty European Countries - Empirical Evidence - Mattei Dogan Chapter 14: The Culture Society - An Heuristic for Analyzing Cultural Change in the Global Age - Arturo Rodriguez Morato Chapter 15: Power and Global Sport - Zones of Prestige, Emulation and Resistance - Joseph Maguire PART VI: TRANSFORMATION OF FRAMES AND CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL EXISTENCE Chapter 16: Comparative Social Transformations in Urban Regimes - Sophie Body-Gendrot, Marisol Garcia & Enzo Mingione Chapter 17: Globalization and the Transformation of Disease and Health Care - William C. Cockerham & Geoffrey B. Cockerham Chapter 18: The Dynamics of Migration and Social Transformations - Han Entzinger

Current Sociology, Jul 1, 2001

... Kamini Adhikari and Arnaud Sales Introduction: New Directions in the Study of Knowledge, Econ... more ... Kamini Adhikari and Arnaud Sales Introduction: New Directions in the Study of Knowledge, Economy and Society There are at least two sources of the ... The article of Julia Evetts and Anna Buchner-Jeziorska is an account of one such ground reality: the internationalization of the ...

International Political Science Review, Oct 1, 1991

This paper will attempt to show how, in contemporary societies, civil society is related to other... more This paper will attempt to show how, in contemporary societies, civil society is related to other social fields, in particular (a) the private and the public spheres; (b) the most organized areas of the social and those areas where the most informal relationships predominate; (c) the structural relations of civil society with the state and the major economic and socio- cultural systems of control and power. Various models of differentiation of social fields will be examined: (1) the dualistic model of state-civil society (which is unsatisfactory because it makes civil society the rag-bag for everything that does not belong to the state); (2) Freund's model opposing the public and the private spheres; (3) the concept of public space, and the thesis of mutual infiltration of public and private spheres; (4) the opposition of systemic regulation (automatisms resulting from the coordination of politics and administration) and self- regulation (natural automatisms); (5) Habermas's model of System- Lifeworld. This analysis should yield a better understanding of (1) the specificity of civil society as the interface between the public and the private and the locus of public opinion formation; (2) the expansion and contraction of public and private domains, and of civil society in a given historical period.

Contemporary Sociology, Jul 1, 1981

Sociologie Du Travail, 1973

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, Mar 10, 2014

‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and... more ‘A Reappraisal of Agency–Structure Theories to Understand Social Change’, presents, discusses and reappraises sociological theories focused on movement rather than on order, on structuration processes rather than on social reproduction, so as to shed light on the permanent transformation of social life triggered by human action. These theories categorized by Joas as the ‘theories of the constitution of society’ (Joas, 1992/1996: 6, 230) seek to clarify the question of the traditionally contradictory relationship between human agency and structure. They have loosened the deterministic grip structures were said to have on the behaviors and practices of social agents. Their contribution through the many proposed interpretations has been considerable. But the literature review raised a series of questions, which I have tried to address in this chapter. The first is related to the concept of social actor, particularly the active status we assign to individual and institutional actors. One of the main questions is to determine whether organizations can be recognized as actors with a capacity for action and structuration. The implications for the analysis are quite significant. The second question addresses the conceptualization of structures and how they impact on the behaviors of social agents. Proponents of constitution theories do not always agree on the usefulness of the concept of structure, and define it differently. Should we follow Giddens, who defines structure as rules and resources, or Archer, who defines it as reproducible/transformable systemic anteriorities pre-dating action or Sztompka, who defines it as entities such as societies and civilizations? Are structures simply internalized by human agents in the form of ‘memory traces’ as Giddens suggests? Or do we need to assign them some anteriority and exteriority? How do large-scale transformations occur and what constraints are imposed by such transformations? In the light of the complexity of social life, we have to acknowledge that its structural features can only be conceptualized from a multidimensional and multilevel perspective and must constantly be related to human actors and their praxis. In this re-examination of the concept of structure, we need to recognize the effects of socialization and experience on individuals, and hence the internalization of certain structural features as part of a ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu, 1972), defined as an individual structural ‘matrix’. We also have to recognize the anteriority and exteriority of our heritage in the form of works of civilization defined here as structural referents for practices and creativity selectively mediatized through specialized knowledge. This reference to anterior productions is not static, but in many cases is reinterpreted, hybridized or ignored through creative action aimed at finding new solutions to problems, dilemmas or projects. We also have to discuss the role of rules, norms and laws. Against the revival of the deterministic approach by some neo-institutionalist theories, we need to acknowledge the far freer view social agents have of rules in ‘de-traditionalized’ societies. This implies an ambivalent approach to the rapport agents have with rules, which will be defined herein as structural procedural elements for framing, stabilizing and predicting action, knowing that one can, to a point, escape from or even transform them. As structural procedural elements or referents, repertoires of rules or works of civilization never do anything on their own. The question thatremains then is: Can specific networked configurations be interpreted as ‘active’ structures? In response, I would like to introduce the concept of Active Reticular Structure, which I define as a network of human actors and corporate actors that succeeds – within the context of complex, large-scale structuration and change processes – in imposing a model that then locks in the path of change. Beyond the initial active network, a new structural configuration emerges, which, by limiting available choices, renders the model increasingly constraining under the action of actors and agents.

Canadian Public Policy-analyse De Politiques, 1981

Canadian Review Of Sociology/revue Canadienne De Sociologie, Nov 1, 1992

Recherches sociographiques, Apr 12, 2005

Sociologie et sociétés, Sep 30, 2002

Canadian Review Of Sociology/revue Canadienne De Sociologie, Jul 14, 2008

International Studies of Management and Organization, Sep 1, 1972

McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Nov 15, 1990

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2000

Recherches sociographiques, Apr 12, 2005

Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1978

Recherches sociographiques, 1987

Sociologie et sociétés, 1987

SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2012

Current Sociology, Jul 1, 2001

International Political Science Review, Oct 1, 1991

The Second ISA Forum of Sociology (August 1-4, 2012), Aug 4, 2012