François Joseph Charles Simiand (18 April 1873 – 13 April 1935) was a French sociologist and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

best known as a participant in the Année Sociologique. As a member of the French Historical School of economics, Simiand predicated a rigorous factual and statistical basis for theoretical models and policies. His contribution to French

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

was recognized in 1931 when, at the age of 58, he was elected to the faculty of the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

and accepted the chair in labor history. Simiand's career was unusual. Like many destined to become influential academics in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, he 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 ...

and graduated in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the top of his class in 1896. However, he quickly became interested in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and submitted a thesis on the wages of coal miners in France (1904) to the faculty of law rather than becoming an academic. As a result, he foreclosed forever the possibility of a prominent university appointment. Thus in 1901 he became the librarian for the French Ministries of Commerce and Labor, a post he held until the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. From 1910 on he also taught Economic History at the

École Pratique des Hautes Etudes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, an institution which did not require a doctorate from its lecturers. Toward the end of the nineteenth century Simiand joined the editorial board of the '' Année Sociologique''. He became a central member of the group as editor of the economic sociology section and served as its expert on statistics. At the same time, as someone removed from the politics of French academics, he was at an institutional remove from

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (; or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French Sociology, sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern soci ...

's ambitions for transforming the French university. Simiand moved further into the administrative apparatus of the French state during

when he left his position as a librarian for work in the Ministry of Armaments where he played a prominent role in making policy. After the war, he served for a year as the Director of Labor for the province of Alsace-Lorraine. In addition, he took up a more permanent position as a teacher at the

Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...

. A student of

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

and

, Simiand advanced a view of economics as a social science grounded in observable phenomena rather than convenient assumptions. This would imply a large program of historical and statistical research.

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Harvard Unive ...

, who denied the existence of a French or an Italian Historical School despite the historical current evident in their economics, acknowledged the significance of Simiand's contributions. In Schumpeter's view, Simiand should be considered a French Institutionalist. Simiand's views on scope and method, which appear in ''La Méthode positive en science économique'' (1911), were applied in his studies of real wages, money and long economic cycles. They were applied in criticism of the work of contemporary economists, as well.Cf

M. F. Simiand, Review of Jevons, Pareto and Marshall ''L'année sociologique'' pp. 516–45 (1909) New School Net (on line)

Works

Book signed by Francois Simiand and offered to Maurice Halbwachs

Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, ''Les classiques des sciences sociales:'' François Simiand.
* "Méthode historique et Science social" ''Revue de synthèse historique'' (1903); re-edited ''Annales ESC'' 15, no. 1. París (1960) * Review of Vialles, ''La consommation et la crise Èconomique,'' in ''Année sociologique'' 7 p. 582 (1902/1903) * Review of May, ''Das Grundgesetz der Wirtschaftskrisen,'' in ''Année sociologique'' 7 p. 585 (1902/1903) * ''Le salaire des ouvriers des mines de charbon en France'' Societe Nouvelle de Librarie et D'edition, 1904 * "La causalité en histoire" ''Bulletin de la

Société française de philosophie Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

'' 6, pp. 245–272, 276–290 (1906)

M. F. Simiand, Review of Jevons, Pareto and Marshall ''L'année sociologique'' pp. 516–45 (1909) New School Net (on line) * ''La Méthode positive en science économique'' (1911); in ''Critique sociologique de l'économie.'' Paris, PUF. VI * ''Le Salaire: l'evolution sociale et la monnaie'' 3 vols., Librairie Felix Alcan, París (1932) * ''Recherches anciennes et nouvelles sur le mouvement général des prix du VXIe au XIXe siècle'' Paris, Domat-Montclirctien (1932) * ''Les Fluctuations économiques à longue période de la crise mondiale'' (1933) * "La monnaie, réalité sociale", ''Les Annales Sociologiques,'' série D, fascicule 1 p. 45 (1934); in ''Critique sociologique de l'économie.'' Paris, PUF. VI * ''La psychologie sociale des crises et les fluctuations économiques de courte durée,'' Paris, Félix Alcan (1937). Originally published in ''Annales Sociologiques.''

Works

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Further reading