Catalog All books
Patrick Fridenson, Bénédicte Reynaud
France and the Age of Work (1814-2004)
In this history about working hours in France during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the authors present two highly original theses which go against some established ideas. Their first thesis is that the limitation or reduction of labour hours was not a political, social or economic issue but primarily a question of public health. The authors second thesis is that the movement for shorter hours was never a major demand of the trade unions since absenteeism served to regulate working hours but the policy of national and international institutions. This is a history book which responds to an impassioned issue in recent French political events. Patrick Fridenson is a historian. Bénédicte Reynaud is an economist.
Noël Pons
Corruption of Elites
An expert in the current fight against political and financial fraud gives his viewpoint and shows that not all dysfunctions in the system can be blamed on individual or temporary excesses.
Robert Boyer
General Theory of Capitalism is it possible?
Robert Boyer is a leading figure of the regulationist school of economics, which believes that capitalism requires external, political, monetary and social regulations, and that the capitalist economy cannot be reduced to the self-regulating laws of the market. In this book, he proposes a general theory of capitalism, from two angles. First of all, he argues that there are several models of capitalism - not just one. America's ultra-liberal capitalism is unlike German capitalism, which is characterised by the fusion between banks and businesses, just as it is unlike French state-interventionist capitalism and Japan's capitalism of consensus. Secondly, in order to understand how capitalism works, every aspect has to be considered - not just the market but also political and social institutions (the State, central banks, unions, etc.) and the conventions they create among themselves (salary agreements, etc.). Robert Boyer is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, a director of studies at the Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales and a member of the French prime minister's Council for Economic Analysis.
Gustave-Nicolas Fischer
Mental Wounds The Strength to Start Over
This book is about the victims of psychological trauma: survivors of war atrocities, torture and attacks, as well as those men and women who suffer daily from emotional harassment. The author shows how these mental wounds can be cared for and how they can heal: by working on memory, through speech, through the support of therapy, by a gesture of reparation, and through forgiveness. Such is the healing process that will help victims to return to life and understand the price. Gustave-Nicolas Fischer teaches psychology and directs the laboratory of psychology at the University of Metz.