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Marc Abélès

An Anthropologist in the French Parliament Publication date : January 1, 2000

"Observe us carefully and we won’t disappoint you: we’re a real tribe, with clans, totems and rituals,” a member of the French National Assembly told author Marc Abélès. “The members are at the heart of a universe which contributes to maintain the idea of a shared identity".

Marc Abélès studies France’s National Assembly through the eyes of an anthropologist. He has made use of an acute sense of observation as well as of a variety of approaches — interviews, personal accounts, previously unpublished anecdotes, profiles of people in the news — and takes a fresh look at the public service sector.


Marc Abélès is a member of the Social Anthropology Laboratory at the Collège de France and the author of Jours Tranquilles en 89, La Vie Quotidienne au Parlement Européen, Anthropologie de l’Etat and Anthropologie du Politique.