This course explores the theory and practice of “political economy” in France, especially after 1945. Questioning the peculiarly French relationship of the economy and the state, it explores a series of topics designed to highlight the social dimensions and implications of economic development and governmental response and regulation, including the changing social and demographic profile of the labor market, social protection and the welfare state, social action and labor unions, and the problem of inequality and social (im)mobility in French society. [Political Science, Economics, History, Sociology, Public Health], meets twice a week, 5.0 credits.

COURSE MATERIALS

• Timothy B. Smith, France in Crisis. Welfare, Inequality and Globalization since 1980, Cambridge University Press, 2004
• Course Reader ( [CR] hereafter )
• Online articles

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The class meets twice a week; students are expected to attend all classes, for which all reading must be completed. Grades will be determined based on the following requirements:

• Class participation: 15%
• Midterm (week 7): 20%
• Final (week 13): 30%
• Written assignments (approximately 10-12 pages total): 35%

COURSE SCHEDULE

Part One: Theory and Practice

Week 1. September 12-16
Economy, Society, and the State: Thinking the Relations

Reading :

• Jean-Pierre Dormois, “The Changing Face of Colbertism” in The French Economy in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p.43-62 [CR]

Recommended:

• J. Ardagh, “Paradoxes of the Economic ‘Miracle’” in France in the New Century: Portrait of a Changing Society, Penguin, 2000, pp. 62-148

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Week 2. September 19-23
“Liberals” and the Social Question, from Jean-Baptiste Say to Raymond Barre

Reading:

• Thomas Lemke, “The Birth of Bio-Politics: Michel Foucault’s Lecture at the Collège de France on Neo-Liberal Governmentality“, Economy & Society, 30, 2, 2001, pp. 190-207
• Pierre Rosanvallon, “Remaking a Nation” in The New Social Question, Princeton University Press, 2000, pp. 27-41 [CR]

Week 3. September 26-30
Keynes and Marx in France

• Robert Kuisel, “The National Revolution at Vichy ” & “The Turning Point” in Capitalism and the State in Modern France. Renovation and Economic Management in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 128-156 & pp. 187-218 [CR]
• Timothy B. Smith, “Globalization: the Big Excuse” in France in Crisis. Welfare, Inequality and globalization since 1980, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 54-87

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Part Two: Work in France

Week 4. October 3-7
Family Policy, Retirement, and the Labor Market

• Rémi Lenoir, “Family Policy in France since 1938”, in John S. Ambler (ed), The French Welfare State, New York University Press, 1991, pp. 144-186 [CR]
• Isabela Mares, “Entreprise Reorganization and Social Insurance Reform: The Development of Early Retirement in France and Germany”, Governance, 14, 3, 2001, pp. 295-317
• Timothy B. Smith, “The Protected People” in France in Crisis, pp. 149-175

* First paper due (3-4 pp)

Week 5. October 10-14
Women and Immigrants in the World of Work

• Kimberly Morgan, “The Politics of Mother’s Employment: France in Comparative Perspective”, World Politics, 55, (January 2003), pp. 259-89
• Michael Samers, “Invisible Capitalism: Political Economy and the Regulation of Undocumented Immigration in France”, Economy and Society, 32, 4, 2003, pp. 555-583
• Timothy B. Smith, “The Excluded: Immigrants, Youth, Women” in France in Crisis, pp. 176-211

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Week 6. October 17-21
Internal, Professional and Informal Job Markets/Midterm

• Marianthi Rannia Leontaridi, “Segmented Labour Markets: Theory and Evidence”, Journal of Economic Surveys, 12, 1, 1998, pp. 63-101

Paris Three: Social Policies

Week 7. October 24-28
Social Security: Myths and Reality

• Paul V. Dutton, “Introduction” & “Conclusion” in Origins of the French Welfare State: The Struggle for Social Reform in France 1914-1947, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 1-13 and 220-225 [CR]
• Jean-Claude Barbier, “A Survey of the Use of the Term ‘Précarité in French Eeconomics and Sociology”, Centre d’Etudes de l’Emploi: Working Paper, 2001 [CR]
• Timothy B. Smith, “Corporatist Welfare States” in France in Crisis, pp. 19-53

MIDTERM EXAM

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FALL BREAK

Week 8. November 7-10
Health and Social Protection in France

• Kate Sparks, Brian Faragher, Cary L. Cooper, “Well Being and Occupational Health in the 21st Century Workplace”, Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 74, 4, 2001, pp. 489-509
• Bernadette Clasquin, Unions and Social Rights: a Continental European Perspective, 25th conference of the International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation, Brisbane, 2004 [CR]

Part Four: Social Structures

Week 9. November 14-18
Schooling, and Social Mobility in France

• Marie Duru-Bellat, Annick Kieffer, “The Democratization of Education in France: Controversy over a Topical Question”, Population, 13, 2, 2001, pp. 189-218
• Pierre Bourdieu, “A State of the Structure” & “State Power and Power Over the State” in The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power, Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 131-183, 371-389 [CR]
• J. Ardagh, “Educational Reform” in France in the New Century, pp. 531-578 [CR]

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Week 10. November 21-25
Social Stratification, Generations and Equity

• Henri Mendras,“Part I - The Breaking-up of Traditional Class Structures” in Social Change in Modern France, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 13-49 [CR]
• Anne-Marie Guillemard, “Equity and Redistribution between Generations”, International Social Security Review, 52, 3, 1999, pp. 69-92

Week 11. November 28 - December 2
Inequalities

• Thomas Piketty, “Income Inequality in France, 1901-1998”, Journal of Political Economy, 111, 2003, pp. 1004-1042
• Richard B. Alba, “Bright vs. Blurred Boundaries: Second-generation Assimilation and Exclusion in France, Germany and the United State”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 1, 2005, pp. 20-49
• Timothy B. Smith, “Persisting Inequalities” in France in Crisis, pp. 127-148

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Week 12. December 5-9
France in a European Political Economy

• S. Leibfried and P. Pierson, “Social Policy: Left to Courts and Markets?” in Wallace, H. and Wallace, W. (eds.), Policy-Making in the European Union, University Press, 2000, pp. 267-292 [CR]
• Michael Storper, “Lived Effects of the Contemporary Economy: Globalization, Inequality, and Consumer Society”, Public Culture, 2000, 12, 2, pp. 375-409
• J. Ardagh, “France, Europe, and the World” in France in the New Century, pp. 678-714 [CR]

Week 13. December 12-16
Review and Final Exam

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