Bio: (1925-2023) French sociologist. Alain Touraine received his doctorate from the École normale supèrieure, and taught at the University of Paris-Nanterre, after which he became director of the research center at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, where he founded the Center for the Study of Social Movements. He is one of the most influential post-war French sociologists. Touraine created his theoretical approach that emphasizes the importance of the action potential of collective actors. In his book Sociology of Action (in French 1965), he presents for the first time the foundations of this approach, which he calls "sociology of action" or „actionalism“.

At the beginning of his career, Touraine conducted a series of empirical studies of the working class, and the first such research was published in the book The Development of Workers' Work at the Reno Factory (in French 1955). In this research, he established that there was no bourgeoisization of the working class in post-war France and that conflicts between labor and capital are still present. However, unlike Marxists, he did not think that workers had the potential to change the social system. This research contributed to his development of actionalist sociology.

In the books Sociology of Action (in French 1964) and The Self-Production of Society (1977, in French 1973), he presents the theory of action, which emphasizes the system of collective actors who shape their actions through cultural orientations and clearly defined intentions, within broader social relations. He rejects the importance of metasocial factors, such as the role of history in Marxism, for the study of society. He introduces the term "historicity" to explain how society influences its own social and cultural practices. Historicity consists of three elements: 1) the mode of knowledge that gives a picture of society, 2) methods to decide how to invest accumulated economic surpluses into noneconomic ventures 3) the cultural model that refers to the ability of society to act only on itself and achieve social transformation.

In Touraine's theoretical model, collective behavior takes place on three hierarchical levels: social organizations (collective means that serve to interact with the environment), political-institutional system (system of coercion and legitimacy), while history is at the highest level. At that level, there are three elements: economic activity, the system of class relations, and the system of historical action. The system of historical action consists of four elements: cultural model (production), mobilization (organization of work), hierarchization (distribution of resources), and consumer needs. Class relations, in Touraine's theory, encompass both economic relations of production and relations of rule and domination. The ruling class (capitalists, managers, technocrats, political elite) establishes power and domination over the "people's class".

In his book The Post-Industrial Society (1969), Touraine states that the second half of the twentieth century saw the development of a post-industrial society, which he called a "programmed" society. In post-industrial societies, the focus is shifting from the production of goods to the production of information. The development of the welfare state abolished the autonomy of the economic sphere because more and more economic decisions are made by the centralized state bureaucracy. It is this centralization and bureaucratization of economic policy that has contributed to post-industrial societies becoming programmed. The creation and dissemination of information is becoming most important for society and the economy, so universities are taking on the most important role in creating and shaping a new type of society and its elite. The centralized power of the state tends to control both the economy and public opinion and thus endanger the power of collective actors and the democratic order. In industrial society, the main representatives of the ruling class were the capitalists, and the main representatives of the popular class were the workers, so class conflicts were characterized by a conflict between workers and capitalists. In postmodern society, the most important representatives of the ruling class are politicians, bureaucrats, and managers, and the main force of resistance to the ruling class is no longer workers and the labor movement, but new social movements - environmental, student, anti-nuclear, feminist and the like.

For a new social movement to be completely formed, it must meet three conditions: to be aware of its own identity, to accept the principle of opposition (existence of a clearly defined opponent), and to adopt the principle of totality, that is, to be aware of its historicity. The potential for success of these new movements depends on the successful activation of informational, organizational, financial, and ideological resources and the ability to make strategic decisions. Touraine believes that sociology should play a key role in providing information and ideological resources to new social movements. To this end, he advocates the establishment of "sociological interventionism", engaged sociology that will, through the creation of information and ideological resources, help social movements to create their own identity, and shape their own principles of opposition and totality. Touraine formulated the main principles of this sociology, together with the sociologist Michel Wieviorka in his book The Voice and the Eye (1981, in French 1978).

In the last twenty years, Touraine has become a very prominent critic of the neoliberal economic model, and he presented this criticism in the books Beyond Neoliberalism (2001, in French 1998) and After the Crisis (2014, in French 2010). Touraine also explored the broader social and cultural consequences of neoliberal globalization in his book New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World (2007, in French 2005). He believes that neoliberal globalization has led to the separation of the economy from the social, cultural, and political spheres. While in the post-war welfare state centralized bureaucracy took precedence over the economy, neoliberal globalization has led to the economy being out of the control of any political or economic institution. These new processes have led to the fragmentation of society and the establishment of a new cultural paradigm. This cultural paradigm leads to the emergence of new actors, new conflicts, and new personal and collective identities. The cultural paradigm represents a global transition from a collective life organized around social concepts to a collective life organized around cultural identities and collective cultural rights. Touraine believes that women will play a leading role in this new age.

Main works

L'évolution du travail ouvrier aux usines Renault (1955);

Sociologie de l'action (1964);

La conscience ouvrière (1966);

Le mouvement de Mai ou le communisme utopique (1968);

La société post-industrielle: naissance d'une société (1969);

Université et société aux États-Unis (1972);

Production de la société (1973);

Pour la sociologie (1974);

La voix et le regard (1978);

Solidarité (1983);  

Le mouvement ouvrier (1984a);

Le Retour de l’acteur (1984b);

Critique de la modernité (1992);

Qu’est-ce que la démocratie ? (1994);

Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble?: Égaux et différents (1997);

Comment sortir du libéralisme ? (1998);

Un nouveau paradigme: pour comprendre le monde d’aujourd'hui (2005);

Penser autrement (2007);

Après la crise (2010);  

La fin des sociétés (2013);

Nous, sujets humains (2015).

Works translated into English:

The Post-Industrial Society (1971, in French 1969); 

The Self-Production of Society (1977, in French 1973); 

The Academic System in American Society (1974, in French 1972); 

The Voice and the Eye (1981, in French 1978);

Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980-1981 (1983, in French 1983); 

Return of the Actor: Social Theory in Postindustrial Society (1988, in French 1984);

Critique of Modernity (1995, in French 1992);

Can We Live Together?: Equality and Difference (2000, in French 1997); 

Beyond Neoliberalism (2001, in French 1998); 

New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World (2007, in French 2005);

Thinking Differently (2009, in French 2007);

After the Crisis (2014, in French 2010).