Societal issues All books
Dominique Schnapper
As Time Goes By A Chronical of 2001-2002
From a mythical meeting in the year 2000, to From our almost mythical appointment with the year 2000, to the presidential upheavals in 2003, this book presents the first expansive record of our entry into a new century. Through insightfully chronicling the passage of time, with both emotion and analysis, the author is able to present us with a picture of our contemporary world. Dominique Schnapper is a director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Serge Tisseron
The Benefits of the Image
Should sex and violence be banned on our television screens ? Is there a danger that their presence can lead to them becoming common-place, or to delinquency ? In light of this current debate, Serge Tisseron argues that as soon as we become accustomed to a type of image, and it ceases to upset us, we invent another type which will once more allow us to confuse image and reality, and thus to shiver again with fear and anxiety. In a society which is flooded with images, it is thus essential to use them as best we can, and to avoid the dangers that are inherent in them. This book aims to contribute to this end. Serge Tisseron is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, doctor of psychology and research fellow at the University of Paris-X. For the past fifteen years, he has worked on the relations that viewers have with different types of images.
Jacques Perriault
Access to Online Knowledge
It is now possible to research and organise information and study online, through the Internet and with the help of satellites. However, the euphoric claims made for e-learning in the past, and the posturing strategies of telecommunications operators, were followed by a profound feeling of disillusion. What is the digital future ? What role can it play in education ? What measures need to be put in place in order to ensure long-lasting development ? Jacques Perriault teaches media and communications studies at the University of Paris-X-Nanterre.
Anne Cadoret
Parents Like the Others Homosexuality and Parenting
There are numerous possible cases of homosexual parenting: How are these new types of family forged? What do homosexual parents seek? And what do they say about their experiences? Eschewing all ideological controversies, the author offers us an ethnological study of family structure which seriously calls into question the place of biology in parenthood and the identification of the parental with the conjugal couple. Anne Cadoret is a sociologist.
Gilles Antonowicz
Sexual Crimes The Reponse of the Judiciary
What is the value of the testimony of a minor who declares having been sexually abused by a family member? What procedures does the judiciary follow to try to prevent the risk of a false allegation? The author explains and comments on the judicial procedure for these sensitive cases, which are often long, complex and very trying. The author goes on to ask if the time has not come to reconsider the status of the victim in these penal proceedings. Gilles Antonowicz is a lawyer specialising in cases concerning the sexual abuse of minors.
Françoise Benhamou
The Star-System Economy
We live in an age that spends fortunes on its stars. But why do we get the impression that the fees that stars receive and their popularity correspond less and less to their talent? Why does stardom seem to have so little to do with creativity and quality? Françoise Benhamou is an economist.
Yves Michaud
Changes in Violence An Essay on Universal Goodwill and Fear
For better or for worse, violence has accompanied humanity throughout its history. It is consubstantial with history, technical knowledge and even culture, and it is unlikely that it will disappear. Human beings are inhabited by darkness great darkness and they must have the courage to confront it. Then why are we so frightened and shocked by each flare-up of violence on the international stage and in our own streets? We feel that there is both more and less violence; that life on our planet has become easier and yet more ruthless; that although benevolence is the universal law, hate is equally strong, if not stronger; that feeling safe may be a right but that fear reigns. Yves Michaud, a philosopher, teaches at the University of Paris-I.
Michel Schneider
Big Mother The Psychopathology of Political Life
Listening, closeness, emergencies, love - politicians today play up to the mother. Leaders dare not lead, the citizens are now so child-like that they simply wait to be told what to do by the State : the Leisure State behaves like those mothers who cannot stand to think that their children can play by themselves, and insist on keeping them busy. Where are the fathers ? Is this the end of the paternal reference and the symbolic order of things ? A psychoanalyst, Michel Schneider was formerly a director of music and dance at the Ministry of Culture.
Jean-Baptiste de Foucauld
The 3 Cultures of Human Development Resistance, Regulation, Utopia
Today, economic growth has taken off again, creating jobs and making full employment a feasible goal. And yet, at a time when we seem to be at the brink of a new recession, nothing seems to have really changed. Modernisation may exclude fewer members of our society than had been previously feared, but, if we are not careful, their exclusion will be all the greater. It is no longer possible to retain a soft procedural approach to democracy. Democracy needs to return to its origins; it must be given a goal, based on a strong vision of humanity and of humanity as part of society. It is necessary to construct human development along the lines of three political and spiritual cultures which represent our common heritage : resistance, regulation and utopia. Jean-Baptiste de Foucauld is a senior official in the French Treasury. Until 1995 he was a commissioner of Frances economic plan. He is active in numerous think-tanks and associations that struggle against social exclusion and unemployment.
Laurent Danon-Boileau
Children Without Language
I have been treating children [with language difficulties] for the past ten years, and making clinical observations from three theoretical points of view: I have used linguistics, psychoanalysis and recent finding in the cognitive sciences. By taking into account and examining the difficulties encountered when working with such children, and by paying attention to the specific character of their development, we will be able to provide essential information for anyone wishing to reflect seriously on a central issue for all of us: Why speak? writes Laurent Danon-Boileau. Laurent Danon-Boileau is a linguist, psychoanalyst and writer.
Philippe deBaleine
Conversations on the Sky
What are the origins of the universe? Besides human beings, are there other conscious living creatures in the universe? If there are, do they resemble humans? Could their appearance be entirely different? If Christian teachings are true, could they also apply to such extraterrestrial creatures? What are Good and Evil? What is Gods role? How did nature take on the forms it has? In a relaxed, conversational tone, Philippe de Baleine addresses some of the major metaphysical, theological and cosmological issues that are being asked today. Philippe de Baleine is a journalist, essayist and novelist.
Serge Lebovici
The Baby, the Psychoanalyst and the Metaphor Presented by Bernard Golse
This exceptional document, the last work of Serge Lebovici, traces the history of metaphor as a concept for philosophers, linguists,and psychoanalysts. It particularly shows why this notion constitutes the keystone of psychic ontogenesis and of all therapeutic activity. A psychoanalyst, and professor of child and adolescent psychology, Serge Lebovici was the president of the International Psychoanalytical Society.
Régis Debray
God, An Itinerary
"If we can be said to have a goal, it is to reply as precisely and soberly as possible to a childish question, which has been frequently set aside as trivial: Why are these beliefs, which came to light in the desert three thousand years ago, still among us? And why is it that hundreds of millions of men and women still follow them? The study of God's minor aspects does not, in our opinion, lessen its significance. Instead, it gives new life to spiritual issues." Régis Debray Régis Debray teaches at the University of Lyon-III.
Louis Roussel
Forgotten Childhood
Roussel points to a number of frightening signs among children today failure at school, depression, suicide, juvenile delinquency, violent behaviour and concludes that childhood itself is seriously threatened. The changes in family relations have played a determining role in affecting the lives of all children each and every one of them potential victims of the upheavals that shake our society. Such is the theory that Roussel presents in this book, as he traces more that 20 years of changes in the family and examines their impact on education. Louis Roussel is a scientific adviser for Frances national institute of demographic studies.
Christine Delaporte
Telling Sick People the Truth
The issue of medical truth is perceived differently by doctors and patients. From the doctors point of view: Should a given patient be told the truth? Should terminally ill patients be told how much longer they may expect to live? From the patients point of view: How can I hear the truth and learn to live with the disease? This book should help health professionals deal with emotionally difficult moments of truth. It should also help patients and their loved ones to feel less alone, once they have heard the truth, and to gradually learn to live with their disease. Christine Delaporte is a head of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
France Schott-Billmann
The Need to Dance
Village dances, the craze for Oriental and African dancing, the large number of rave parties - over the past few years, the joy of dancing seems to have been rediscovered in France. What does the desire to dance hide?