Presentation

Since 1979, EHESS has given prominent figures in the scientific community a platform at its annual Marc Bloch conference, a forum for collective reflection on the social sciences, the evolution of scientific paradigms, and ways of interpreting social worlds. For its 44th edition, EHESS welcomes Michèle Lamont to the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council on December 8, 2025.

Michèle Lamont is a professor of sociology and African and African American studies at Harvard University, where she holds the Robert I. Goldman Chair in European Studies and was fellow for a writing residency at the Paris IAS in June 2025. Her research focuses on group boundaries, morality, and inequality, with a particular interest in recognition, racism, and stigmatization.

She is the author of Money, Morals and Manners: The Culture of the French and American Upper-Middle Class (1992, French translation in 1995), The Dignity of Working Men: Morality, and the Boundaries of Class, Race and Immigration (2000, French translation in 2002), How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment (2009), Getting Respect: Responding to Stigma and Discrimination in the US, Brazil and Israel (2016, collective work) and Seeing Others: How Recognition Works and How It Can Heal a Divided World (2023). She is currently working on a book entitled Recognition Globally, which will be the subject of her lecture.

Winner of the Erasmus Prize (2017) and the Kohli Prize for Sociology (2024), she was president of the American Sociological Association (2016) and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the British Academy, and the Royal Society of Canada.

Facing the great symbolic reshuffle: making room for everyone

"In this, the 50th anniversary year of EHESS, we are going through a critical period in which the legitimacy of the social sciences and the values of inclusion are being undermined by the rise of neo-fascist theories. Faced with this threat, there is an urgent need for collective reflection on the role and impact of scientists on the future of our societies.

Approaches derived from sociology shed light on the dynamics of contemporary struggles for respect and dignity with a view to positively changing the symbolic boundaries between groups. In this regard, comparative analysis of workers without university degrees in the United States, or members of indigenous communities in Canada and Oceania, reveals the diversity of recognition strategies at work.

Our contribution as researchers is to help citizens better understand what the redefinition of social hierarchies, as advocated by the Trump administration with its international resonance, entails. At the heart of these issues lies our collective ability to define the criteria for a more inclusive society." Michèle Lamont

Pratical conditions Modalités pratiques

Free admission subject to availability. Registration required via the following link.
In French and interpreted in French Sign Language (LSF).
Please bring identification.

Program