La sociologie pragmatique à l'épreuve des risques. Exercice de crise sur le dossier nucléaire

In: Politix: revue des sciences sociales du politique, Band 11, Heft 44, S. 76-108

Abstract

The Pragmatic Program in Sociology Facing the Challenge of Risks Analysis. Reflections on the Nuclear File.
Francis Chateauraynaud [76-108].
Through a sample of radioactivity alerts, drawn from a study on transformations of nuclear problems in France, this article analyzes pragmatical and configurational aspects of public validity of warning signs. The described processes make visible the methods used by actors, far away from institutional positions, in order to give holds over dangerous activities whose effects are not only insensible but also bound to very long temporality. Showing how people connect in series past oustanding events and future potentialities, the author proposes to reorientate the «pragmatic» program in sociology. In fact, the project to describe very complex cases supposes to leave the comfortable paradigm based on «interaction».