Denis Piveteau
A Society in Search of Meaning Publication date : November 1, 2000
Even if the economy recovered and unemployment dropped, would this mean that we would know how to share the fruits of economic growth more justly? Has the issue of social exclusion become the contemporary equivalent of the working-class question in the previous century?
The unemployment crisis, which is not yet over, cannot be disassociated from two other crises: that of social ties and of meaning. Technical measures and an improved economy will not suffice to correct the situation. What is needed is more co-operation and increased initiative. The society as a whole must by energised, it must accept new constraints and find a better way of expressing conflict.
This is a hard-hitting analysis of our society’s flaws.
Jean-Baptiste Foucauld, a former commissioner of France's economic plan, was one of Jacques Delors' advisers. Since 1999, he has been the president of Convictions, a French think-tank.
Denis Piveteau, a member the French Council of State, was formerly an assistant director of the CNAM. He specialises in social issues.
The unemployment crisis, which is not yet over, cannot be disassociated from two other crises: that of social ties and of meaning. Technical measures and an improved economy will not suffice to correct the situation. What is needed is more co-operation and increased initiative. The society as a whole must by energised, it must accept new constraints and find a better way of expressing conflict.
This is a hard-hitting analysis of our society’s flaws.
Jean-Baptiste Foucauld, a former commissioner of France's economic plan, was one of Jacques Delors' advisers. Since 1999, he has been the president of Convictions, a French think-tank.
Denis Piveteau, a member the French Council of State, was formerly an assistant director of the CNAM. He specialises in social issues.