Alain Touraine (; 3 August 1925 – 9 June 2023) was a French sociologist. He was research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux. Touraine was an important figure in the founding of French sociology of work after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and later became a sociologist of

social movements A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of ...

, particularly the May 68 student movement in France and the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

trade-union movement in communist Poland.

Biography

Touraine completed his khâgne ( preparatory school) at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

in Paris, and entered the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(ENS) in 1945. He left his studies at the ENS for a research trip in Hungary and then worked at a mine in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

in 1947–1948 after his return to France. Touraine's work in the industrial milieu and his simultaneous discovery of the sociologist Georges Friedmann's ''Problèmes humains du machinisme industriel'' led him to return to studies in history at the ENS and to pass the ''agrégation'' in history in 1950. The same year, he became a researcher in sociology at the CNRS, working in the new subfield of the sociology of work under Friedmann. Touraine conducted field research at the Renault auto factory in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

in Paris, which would lead to his first sociological monograph, published in 1955. In 1952, he received a grant from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

to study at Harvard with

Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...

. Touraine defended his two doctoral theses at the University of Paris in 1964. His major thesis was published as ''Sociologie de l'action'' in 1965, and his minor thesis as ''La conscience ouvrière'' in 1966, both by Éditions du Seuil. Touraine was the father of two children: Marisol, who served as the French Minister of Social Affairs and Health from 2012 to 2017 in the government of Jean-Marc Ayrault and

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (born 13August 1962) is a French–Spanish politician who serves as Minister of the Overseas in the Bayrou government since 2024. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president Françoi ...

; and Philippe, a professor of endocrinology at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Touraine died in Paris on 9 June 2023, at the age of 97.

Work

Part of the first generation of French ''sociologues du travail'' after World War II, Touraine was a pioneer of sociological

fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

in industrial settings in France, drawing on the influence of American industrial sociology and

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor union, labor/trade unions, employer organ ...

, as well as the survey research of

Paul Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist and mathematician. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organizat ...

. Touraine's 1955 study of Renault articulated the "ABC" theory of

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

which was adopted by 1960s radical sociologists of the "new working class," including Serge Mallet. Touraine's mature work after 1960 is based on a "sociology of action", which he called "actionalism", and believes that society shapes its future through structural mechanisms and its own social struggles. Expressed in his first theoretical statement, ''Sociologie de l'action'', Touraine conceived "actionalism" as an alternative to the functionalism of

, toward which he had frequently expressed disdain throughout his career. Touraine was a professor of sociology at

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

when the student movement of May 1968 broke out on its campus. Touraine observed the movement on the ground and wrote one of the first studies of it; 1968 marked a transition in his work away from labor and the working class toward

. Touraine, who in his 1960s work had been a major theorist of "

industrial society In sociology, an industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world ...

," published one of the first books articulating a concept of "

post-industrial society In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related t ...

" in 1969, though the American sociologists Daniel Bell and David Riesman had already been using the term. His prime interest for most of his career has been with

. He had studied and written extensively on workers' movements across the world, particularly in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and Poland—where he observed the emergence of the dissident movement Solidarnosc. While in Poland, he developed the research method of "sociological intervention," which had been outlined in ''The Voice and the Eye'' (''La Voix et le Regard'') 981 Touraine has gained popularity in Latin America as well as in continental Europe. He has failed to gain the same recognition in the English-speaking world, although half of his books have been translated into English. He participated in 1969 at the Universitas project organized by Argentine architect Emilio Ambasz.

Honours

In 2007, he was appointed honorary doctor of the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia (; ) is a private Open supported learning, open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish language, Spanish and English languag ...

. In 2010, he was jointly awarded, with

Zygmunt Bauman Zygmunt Bauman (; ; 19 November 1925 – 9 January 2017) was a Polish–British sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. ...

, the Príncipe de Asturias Prize for Communication and the Humanities. Touraine received the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 2014 during his daughter Marisol’s mandate as French Minister of Social Affairs.

Selected publications

* Touraine, A. (1965) ''Sociologie de l'action''. Paris: Seuil. *Touraine, A. (1966) ''La conscience ouvrière.'' Paris: Seuil. *Touraine, A. (1968) ''Le mouvement de mai ou le communisme utopique.'' Paris: Seuil. *Touraine, A. (1969) ''La société post-industrielle''. Paris: Seuil. *Touraine, A. (1971). ''The Post-Industrial Society. Tomorrow's Social History: Classes, Conflicts and Culture in the Programmed Society''. New York: Random House. * Touraine, A. (1977). ''The Self-Production of Society''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * Touraine, A. (1981). ''The Voice and the Eye: An Analysis of Social Movements''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Dubet, F., A. Touraine and M. Wieviorka (1983). ''Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980-1981''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Touraine, A. (1995). '' Critique of Modernity''. Oxford: Blackwell. * Touraine, A. (1999). "Chapter 9: Society Turns Back Upon Itself." ''The Blackwell Reader in Contemporary Social Theory''. Ed. Anthony Elliott. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1999. * Touraine, A. (2000). ''Can We Live Together?: Equality and Difference''. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. * Touraine, A. (2006). ''Le Monde des Femmes''. Paris: Fayard. * Touraine, A. (2007). ''New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World''. Cambridge, Malden: Polity. * Touraine, A. (2009). ''Thinking Differently''. Cambridge, Malden: Polity.

Biography

Work

Honours

Selected publications

References

Further reading