Les Rencontres du Mesopolhis #5 | "The marketplace of ideas. The humanities and their readers"

Friday 4 April 2025 | 14h-16h30 | MMSH (salle PAF)

We are delighted to welcome Louis Pintosociologist and Director of Emeritus Research at the CNRS, who will present his book The market of ideas. The human sciences and their readers (Éditions du Croquant, 2024).

A discussion will be led by Magali Nonjon and Simon Mangon (MESOPOLHIS).

Full summary of the book:

"The human sciences are first and foremost learned disciplines, the subject of teaching and research. Outside university circles, they are generally approached through authors, illustrious figures celebrated in the media. They have hardly ever been considered in terms of their readers. Who are these people? What do they read and how do they read?

This book is based on an investigation into the differences between scholarly and lay readers.

While the former are beholden to the discipline that formed them, the latter are available for reading that can be called free, unbound by school rules. Lay readers appreciate books that are supposed to offer a 'break' in their way of thinking. Free reading gives most readers access, outside the framework of disciplines, to what they see as the hallmarks of the intellectual condition: 'thought' and intellectual causes.

A survey of readers is one way of shedding light on the workings of a market in ideas that is subject to the growing influence of other sectors, such as publishing, the press and politics.

Hybrid format: contact peroline.rouillard@sciencespo-aix.fr (MESOPOLHIS communications officer) to obtain the invitation link.

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Mesopolhis 2024-2025 programme of meetings

Download the Mesopolhis programme for this academic year 2024-2025.