AFSP 2022 CONGRESS - LILLE

Research managers

Julien O'Miel and Cécile Talbot, for the Images du politique / Politiques de l'image collective*.

* In addition to coordinating the methodological conversation, the group is made up of: Philippe Aldrin, Camille Floderer, Pierre Fournier, Vincent Geisser, Marsaud Gaël, Cesare Mattina, Jérémie Moualek, Frédéric Nicolas, Magali Nonjon.)

This methodological conversation takes stock of the development of visual approaches in sociology and anthropology. It aims to promote them within political science by examining the methodological possibilities they offer. It will look at the ways in which they can be used to produce and collect data, and at the ways in which they can be used to reconstruct and present the results of research.

Congress 2022

SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATION - Inspired by the tradition of visual anthropology, visual sociology developed particularly in the United States in the 1960s in the form of photographs and then documentary films. This practice is closely associated with an ethnographic, immersive conception of sociological work. Practised in a confidential manner, visual sociology gradually gained recognition in the 1970s (Becker, 1974), before becoming a movement in its own right in the field of academic sociology. The thesis and work of Douglas Harper (Harper, 1982, 1987, 2012) helped to strengthen the scientific community's interest in 'thinking visually' in the 1980s. In the 1990s, a growing number of American sociologists used still or filmed images to convey the reality of their fieldwork and make the results of their empirical research known beyond academic circles.

Today, the Visual Studies approach and techniques are established and recognised within the social sciences, thanks in particular to the democratisation of audiovisual tools (Giglio-Jacquemot, Gehin, 2012). In fact, more and more sociological investigations are being carried out using photography (Cuny et al., 2020), drawing (Nocerino, 2016) or film (Durand and Sebag, 2020), or even reusing images produced by social actors (Galibert-Laîné, 2021). Nevertheless, political sociologists have done very little work on the subjects of political sociology (Mattioli, 2007), unlike in the fields of work, the family or the urban environment. And yet, because it possesses an intrinsic dramatic tension, politics is an ideal subject for visual writing. Whether it's electoral competition or the discreet world of the exercise of power, politics has obvious videogenic properties that fiction and documentary readily explore. The same applies to all forms of interaction in society that involve relationships (of force, submission, contestation, resignation) to the established order and the law. Politics also covers all the forms taken in the ordinary social world by opposing ideas or interests, and competition between individuals or groups for resources. Many political scientists study this perception of the artist and examine the similarities and differences with the contributions of researchers (Taïeb, Lefebvre, 2020; Laugier, Corcuff, 2021). Fewer consider that the image itself can constitute a privileged mode of knowledge production and argumentation (Aldrin and Grégory, 2018; Moualek, 2018), inviting us to take stock of the questions surrounding its legitimacy.

Thinking about politics as a visual sociologist raises a number of questions. Approaching the image as a tool for collecting data in a survey situation leads the researcher to question the implicit assumptions of interview and direct observation methods, which have become commonplace (Becker, 2001). By offering the respondent a space in which to express him/herself, the image often facilitates entry into the field (Cornu, 2010) by assigning a predefined role to the researcher (Conord, 1999). But how does visual investigation change the relationship between the interviewee and the field? For example, isn't there a risk that the potential staging of subjects will be reinforced among the most politically competent respondents, such as 'political professionals'?

To what extent does a visual investigation of politics produce a specific gain in reflexivity? What does this combination of techniques and sources entail? For example, how can visual tools - such as photo-elicitation (Collier, 1967) or video-elicitation (Fournier, Cesaro, 2020) - bring out a voice that is sometimes 'prevented' (Bonnet, 2012), particularly on sensitive subjects such as voting (Moualek, 2018)? More generally, the subjects covered by political sociology can pose a challenge for researchers using images because, while it is accepted that the camera or the still camera are relevant for observing interactions (Lallier, 2009), gestures, frames of action (Desaleux and Martinais, 2011) or bodies (Hasque, 2014), how can they be used to observe the abstract relationships of power and domination that are often masked or reserved for the 'ordinary' scenes of life that are most closed to the camera?

While it is common to equate 'visual sociology' with qualitative approaches, to what extent can images also be used in quantitative studies (Filion, 2011), for example to study collective mobilisations or meetings? How can we think 'sociologically' through images without reducing them to the illustration of a survey carried out beforehand? More than simply recording reality, the use of images requires the researcher to produce a point of view (Buob, 2020) and to construct a narrative. What status, then, should be given to the finished product in relation to related forms such as news reporting, activist films and auteur documentaries? How, for example, can you make a film about politics without making it a political film that 'engages' the researcher?

Finally, the use of images is often synonymous with raising the profile of social agents who are invisibilised (Lendaro, 2020) or even politically disqualified (Le Houérou, 2012). So how can we make people visible without succumbing to the 'populist' temptation (Grignon and Passeron, 1989) or, conversely, 'without stigmatising' (Larcher, 2012)?

All these questions need to be addressed if we are to develop visual methods within political science. Several speakers from the fields of political science and sociology will be presenting their research and teaching experiences, with the aim of sharing their experiences, tricks and questions.

PARTICIPANTS

Douglas HarperProfessor Emeritus in Sociology Duquesne University, The state of Visual Sociology and its debates

Jérémie MoualekLecturer in Sociology, Université d'Evry-Paris Saclay / Centre Pierre Naville, For a visual sociology of politics. Avenues and conditions of possibility

Cécile CunyLecturer in Sociology, Université Gustave Eiffel / Lab'Urba, What can photography do? A look back at three visual urban sociology surveys

Émilie BalteauPost-doctoral researcher in sociology, École d'urbanisme de Paris - UPEC / Lab'Urba, Thinking the social world in images. Film as sociological discourse.