Současná francouzská sociologie – Keller Jan (2022)

This Czech-language book by Jan Keller presents the main features of the development of French sociological thought from the mid-20th century to the present. It examines the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial society, from a national to a global society, and from modernity to postmodernity, considering these changes in theory as well as in different areas of social life and everyday experience. It discusses changes in social reality together with the major disputes and debates that have taken place in French sociology. French sociology offers particularly suitable tools for this analysis, especially its system of “socio-professional categories,” which has been used since the mid-20th century to track changes in social structure, occupational development and social mobility. Within this framework, the book examines changes in work and employment, including France’s transformation from a country of small entrepreneurs and tradespeople into a typical employee society. It considers the effects of women’s mass entry into the labour market, new types of employment contracts, changes in education and qualification levels, new forms of labour conflict and the return of mass unemployment, as well as debates about the future of the employment society. Further sections address changes in formal organisations in both the private and public spheres, the development of the sociology of organisations, management, innovations in the administration of companies and public institutions, and their effects on employees. The book also examines education, traditionally a major concern of French sociology because the republican school is regarded as a key pillar of social integrity. It traces the links between the expansion of education, changes in social structure and social mobility, and discusses the major disputes surrounding the massification of education since the 1960s. The final section begins an analysis of the sociology of the family and its response to significant changes in relationships between spouses and partners.