Alain Touraine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alain Touraine
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| Born | 3 August 1925 |
| Died | 9 June 2023 (aged 97) |
| Education | École Normale Supérieure |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Occupation | Sociologist |
| Employer | École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales |
| Relatives | Marisol Touraine (daughter) |
Alain Touraine (born August 3, 1925 – died June 9, 2023) was a famous French sociologist. A sociologist studies how societies work and how people behave in groups. He was a research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where he started a center for studying social movements.
Touraine was very important in creating the field of French sociology of work after World War II. Later, he became known worldwide for studying social movements. These are large groups of people working together for a cause. He especially studied the May 68 student movement in France and the Solidarity trade union movement in Poland.
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Alain Touraine's Early Life and Education
Alain Touraine went to a special preparatory school in Paris called Lycée Louis-le-Grand. In 1945, he entered the École Normale Supérieure, a top French university. He took a break from his studies to travel to Hungary.
After returning to France, he worked in a mine in Valenciennes from 1947 to 1948. This experience, along with discovering the work of sociologist Georges Friedmann, inspired him. He went back to study history and passed a major exam in 1950.
Becoming a Sociologist
In 1950, Touraine became a sociology researcher at the CNRS, a French research organization. He worked in the new area of sociology of work under Georges Friedmann. Touraine did hands-on research at the Renault car factory in Paris. This led to his first book on sociology, published in 1955.
In 1952, he received a grant to study at Harvard University with another famous sociologist, Talcott Parsons. Touraine earned his two doctoral degrees from the University of Paris in 1964. His main thesis was published as Sociologie de l'action (Sociology of Action) in 1965. His other thesis, La conscience ouvrière (The Workers' Consciousness), came out in 1966.
Touraine's Family Life
Alain Touraine had two children. His daughter, Marisol Touraine, was the French Minister of Social Affairs and Health from 2012 to 2017. His son, Philippe, is a professor of endocrinology at a hospital in Paris.
Alain Touraine's Key Ideas and Research
Touraine was part of the first group of French "sociologists of work" after World War II. He was a pioneer in doing fieldwork directly in factories and industrial places in France. He was influenced by American industrial sociology and survey research.
Understanding Automation and Society
In his 1955 study of the Renault factory, Touraine developed the "ABC" theory of automation. This theory looked at how machines changed work. It was later used by sociologists in the 1960s who studied the "new working class."
After 1960, Touraine's main work focused on what he called "sociology of action," or "actionalism." This idea suggests that society shapes its own future through conflicts and social struggles. He believed this was a different way to understand society compared to other theories at the time.
Studying Social Movements
Touraine was a professor at Nanterre when the student movement of May 1968 began on its campus. He observed the movement closely and wrote one of the first studies about it. This event marked a shift in his work. He moved from studying labor and the working class to focusing on social movements.
In 1969, Touraine published one of the first books to talk about "post-industrial society." This idea suggests that societies move beyond being mainly industrial to focusing more on services and information.
His main interest throughout his career was social movements. He studied and wrote a lot about workers' movements around the world, especially in Latin America. He also observed the rise of the Solidarnosc movement in Poland. While in Poland, he developed a research method called "Sociological Intervention." This method involves researchers actively participating in and understanding a social movement.
Touraine became very popular in Latin America and in Europe. However, he didn't get as much recognition in English-speaking countries, even though half of his books were translated into English.
Awards and Recognition
In 2010, Alain Touraine shared the Príncipe de Asturias Prize for Communication and the Humanities with another sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman. This is a very important award in Spain.
In 2014, Touraine received the Légion d’Honneur, one of France's highest awards. He received it while his daughter, Marisol Touraine, was serving as the French Minister of Social Affairs.
See also
In Spanish: Alain Touraine para niños
