Denis Segrestin#
Laudatio by Alessandro Cavalli#
The candidate’s research addresses the world of work, relations of production, and the socio-historical conditions surrounding their evolution. Initially, he focused on factors affecting the creation of an individual’s professional identity and how these impact a person’s behavior in the workplace. He saw the "phenomenon of corporatism" (the title of one of his books) not as a remnant, but rather as proof of the strength of working communities forged by the process of industrialization. These communities have outlived the economic conditions and techniques that created them to now exemplify the autonomy of work from capital.
From 1985 on, he turned his attention to firms. He noticed that firms were regaining esteem in the collective unconscious (at a time when employment was a growing concern), and he thus sought to understand the scope of the "renaissance" taking place. In his book Sociologie de l'entreprise (The Sociology of Firms), he gave an overarching view of the historical conditions in which firms - always thought to be in opposition to the accepted social order - were able to regain the status of veritable social institutions.
Recently, he conducted research to understand, from the inside-out, changes taking place in large organizations. He observed that developed societies have now created new ways of depicting the rationalization of production, and he thus decided to do a sociological analysis of management. He has also worked on the role of management generally in the context of the continuing evolution of capitalism. He examined the mechanisms at work in the innovation processes of large firms.
His present project focuses on the institutional dimension of changes currently taking place, with an aim to form new conclusions. Globalization has created a blank slate for corporate structure and governance. What level of cohesion and legitimacy do network-firms and holding companies have? What should we call the entities that result from the international development of firms or from mergers and acquisitions? What political heritage should be linked to new issues of corporate social responsibility? What role does the management of human resources really play in industrial strategy? Sociology has not yet fully taken into account these questions: this is why Denis Segrestin is conducting a breakthrough within empirical analysis of these questions on "The contemporary firm and its transformations" that he manages at the Centre for Sociology of Organizations in Paris.
In 2009, this program has been distinguished by Sciences Po as a Research Priority. It was also elected by the Centre for European Studies of Harvard University (MA, USA) where Denis Segrestin has been appointed as a Visiting Scholar from February to June 2010. He plans to prepare a totally new book about “The Sociology of Firms in the global Economy”.
His contribution and notoriety are also linked to his numerous academics responsibilities. Among them for the present, D. Segrestin is director of the doctoral program at the CSO; member of the Editorial Board for the Sciences Po Press, co-director of the Gouvernances Series (with Patrick Le Gales). He is member of the Editorial Board for the Revue française de sociologie (since 1986) and active in its management. But also in the past he had been heading for five years the research Center founded by JD Reynaud at Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers an Institution in Higher Education in France. Among his publications in French many have been translated into European languages.
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