Abstract
How does French-language sociology deal with aging? This is the question posed by this contribution, which explores articles published within the past fifteen years in various French-language scientific journals. Through a systematic review of the scientific literature, we analyze the evolution of topics in the sociology of aging through five well-known French-language journals of sociology. Three of them are generalist journals (Revue française de sociologie, Revue suisse de sociologie, Recherches sociologiques et anthropologiques), from France, Switzerland, and Belgium respectively. The remaining two journals, both from France, are specifically devoted to the study of aging (Gérontologie et société, Retraite et société). The results invite further exploration of the influence of the national contexts in which French-speaking European sociologies are structured.
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Notes
Thibault Moulaert and one of the authors of this article have maintained for several years, through interposed publications, a friendly discussion on the sociology of old age and gerontology. This public and published discussion is (in part) included in our corpus.
This temporal focus was chosen based on three kinds of considerations: technical (the availability of archives and the digital publishing policies of the studied journals), scientific (the beginning of the 2000s is marked by the emergence of several fields from which the sociology of aging has been considered - gender studies, postcolonial studies, science and technology studies), but also social (with notably the intensification and dramatization of questions related to aging).
For the Revue suisse de sociologie, we selected only the articles published in French and/or by authors based in French-speaking Switzerland (the journal being trilingual, certain French-speaking authors choose to publish in English).
The orientations of these two specialized journals result from the history of the financing of research on aging in France. Until 2015, research was mainly supported by agencies concerned with employment and retirement (in particular the Direction de la Recherche, des Études, de l’Évaluation et des Statistiques [Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation, and Statistics] - DREES) or with the loss of autonomy, sickness, and disability (in particular the Fondation de France [Foundation of France]). Created by the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse [National Old-Age Insurance Fund - CNAV] in 1992, Retraite et société is a multidisciplinary journal specialized in the study of retirement, aging, and the health of elderly workers from several different angles (sociological, economic, demographic, legislative, statistical and anthropological). The editorial board includes professionals from the CNAV, the observatoire des retraites [an organization responsible for oversight of old-age pensions], and DREES, with which the journal maintains strong bonds, and it gives considerable attention to economics and sociology. The older journal Gérontologie et société clearly originates from debates and concerns within the medical field. Initially financed by the Fondation nationale de Gérontologie [National Gerontology Foundation], the journal was also taken over by the CNAV in 2014, with a dual leadership (geriatrics/sociology) that maintains the journal’s previous position on two important dimensions (multidisciplinarity and researcher-practitioner dialogue) and demonstrates willingness to conform to international scientific publishing standards.
INED: Institut national d’études démographiques [National Institute of Demographic Studies]; INSEE: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques [National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies].
See here the status of professors associated with the University of Sherbrooke and several collective publications - notably on the question of the Villes amies des ainés [Age-Friendly Cities and Communities] initiative (Garon et al. 2015).
Since decolonization, French anthropology and ethnology have reinvested territories closer to home, bringing with them specific approaches to life stages (in particular, to old age). The journals of these disciplines now constitute possible means of valorization for the work carried out by sociologists of aging (and more generally of life stages) anxious to develop areas of reflection that do not necessarily find a place in specialized journals with narrower perimeters and subject to the norms of multidisciplinary publication.
The sociology of reproduction and inequality has largely developed from the study of school and family practices. The materialist and Marxian approaches relied heavily on the analysis of work and wage labor, while the study of urban spaces prompted the development of analyses in terms of segregation and socio-spatial polarization.
The journals dedicated to this topic (Cahiers du genre, Nouvelles questions féministes, Genre, sexualité et société, Travail, genre et société) are seen as specific, and the perspective is far from predominant in the publications of the generalist journals examined over the period studied.
Characterized by a lesser opposition between the social sciences and life sciences: less opposition between social and biological anthropology, or structuration of tendencies interlacing the two - sociobiology in the 1970s, “biocultural” perspectives at the end of the 1990s, etc. In contrast, French social sciences have been constructed in a strong opposition between the “social” and the “biological”, in sociology (Memmi et al. 2009) as in anthropology (with the strong dissociation of biological anthropology, now a minority tendency in France, and social anthropology).
We have seen the particularity of financing channels in France for publication about old age, while in Switzerland and Belgium publication remains supported by national research funds.
For example, 2012 was the European year of active aging and solidarity between generations. Within this framework, guiding principles of active aging were written by the social protection committee and the employment committee.
The theoretical framework was determined on the basis of examination of the title, the summary, and the introduction of the articles. In these three units, we tried to identify the theoretical references (author, theory, concept) serving as a framework for an article.
Indeed, old age has been considered in terms of family solidarity and intergenerational transfers in a country marked by the familial orientation of its public policies (Damon et al. 2003; Martin 2011). At the scientific level, it is also based on the sociology of the family (and on the question of solidarities and of transmissions) that several aspects of aging have been (and continue to be) treated.
The figure is based on the fifteen-year period of study divided into three five-year periods. Only the significant themes are presented (chi-squared test; p < 0.05).
Twelve occurrences, including two special issues - the 2012 no. 132, devoted to gerontological territories, and the 2013 no. 146, dedicated to the elderly in rural areas and mainly investigated by sociologists. This theme is less present in Retraite et société (4 occurrences), where it is mainly viewed from the perspective of international comparison.
Of the 235 articles, 110 were signed by one or more women, 72 by one or more men, and 53 by authors of both sexes.
Note that this feminization is less evident in generalist media. Obviously, it must also be put into the context of the feminization of the field of sociology of aging as a whole and of a double process of gendered division of scientific work: a vertical division (women occupying lower-ranked positions in academia, with less access to prominent “generalist” journals) but also a horizontal division (women being more involved with subjects related to care, to age groups, etc.).
In 2001, Switzerland put in place a mechanism of long-term financing for centers of excellence (National Centers of Competence in Research, Swiss National Science Foundation, http://www.snf. ch/en/researchinFocus/nccr/Pages/default.aspx) with the aim of promoting the concentration of skills and the sustainable promotion of young scientists. If these centers indeed produce a large number of doctors, the possibility of obtaining post-doctorate employment within a center is always limited. The current trend is to strongly encourage young doctors to go abroad with a fellowship. In this sense, the injunction to construct individual international careers goes against the constitution of centers active in their scientific fields in a durable and stable manner, within a framework of generational renewal.
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Burnay, N., Hummel, C. & Voléry, I. The Kaleidoscope of the Sociology of Aging Seen through the French-Speaking Field. Am Soc 48, 342–365 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-017-9352-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-017-9352-2