Governing by rites : historical sociology of municipal rites of institution related to kinhood in France, mirrored by the German situation (1789-1989) ; Gouverner par le rite : socio-histoire des rites d'institution municipaux autour de la parenté en France, au miroir de la situation en Allemagne (1...
This dissertation deals with French municipal rites of institution related to kinhood – civil wedding, civil baptism, marriage anniversaries, Mother's Day and virginal feasts – and aims to trace back their history since the French revolution. It is based on primary sources collected in three cities (Bobigny, Nice and Göttingen), as well as at the central administration, complemented by secondary sources. Moreover, it follows an ethnographic, socio-historical and comparative approach (referring to the German situation).This research identifies three main steps: first, the invention of these rites as the result of the secularization of catholic rites, from the French revolution to the 1960's with the interwar-period as a turning point. Second, the liberalization of these rites occurring in the 1970's and 1980's, and finally, their individualization in the following decades, which constitutes the starting question of the research. Besides, this dissertation shows the local and national specificities of these rites, as well as the temporal and geographical diversity of the moral figures these rites are founded on, despite their steady features (they are above all feminine and recur to the registers of both kinhood and citizenship). Finally, this dissertation voices the plasticity of municipal rites of kinhood, such as illustrated by the diversity of bottom-up uses (mode of collective action, individual political action, practice focused on the sole question of kinhood, etc.), as well as top-down uses (policy instruments, tools of legitimization, clientelism, etc.) of these rites. ; Cette thèse a pour objet les rites d'institution municipaux autour de la parenté célébrés en France – mariage civil, baptême civil, anniversaires de mariage, Fête des mères ou encore fêtes virginales –, dont elle vise à retracer l'histoire depuis la Révolution française, à partir de matériaux de première main recueillis dans trois communes (Bobigny, Nice et Göttingen), ainsi qu'auprès de l'administration centrale, complétés par des ...