Study day-round table in honour of André Donzel (part 2): «French Marxist urban sociologies».»

Friday 26 June 2026 | 9.30am - 6pm | Institut méditerranéen de la ville et des territoires (2 Place Jules Guesde, 13003 Marseille))

«French Marxist urban sociologies».
Pathways, perspectives and legacies in local applications

This day is organised by Axis 4: «Socio-spatial dynamics and political mobilisation» and the «Urban Studies» cross-cutting theme» MESOPOLHIS, in collaboration with the LIEU laboratory at the ITM and the LAVUE laboratory at the University of Paris 8.

It will focus on the history, developments and prospects of French Marxist urban sociology, and even of what has been defined as a «French school of urban sociology».».

This is the second of two occasions on which André Donzel has been honoured. The first was held on 18 December 2025: more information here.

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This one-day round table will look back at the history, developments and prospects of the French Marxist urban sociologies of the 1970s and 1980s, and even of what has been defined as the «French school of urban sociology».»[1].

It gives us the opportunity to revisit this sociological tradition, developed by authors working on urban or metropolitan areas such as Dunkirk, Lyon or Paris (Manuel Castells, Francis Godard, Jean Lojkine, etc.) or on the Marseille metropolis (Alain Chenu, Danielle Bleitrach and Jean Lojkine wrote a very interesting Gramscian-inspired book comparing Lille and Marseille).[2], André Donzel, Paul Bouffartigue). This sociological tradition has highlighted the role of state monopoly capitalism in the urban production of metropolitan areas (such as Dunkirk).[3]. It highlighted the ideological basis for the construction of urban hierarchies around the new industries. But while intending, in the classical Marxist tradition, to emphasise the prevalence of economic infrastructure over political power, this urban sociology ended up encountering and describing in some detail the level of local politics and localised social groups (what it called «class fractions»). It has just as likely produced results that contradict its initial strongly ideological and at times dogmatic presuppositions, becoming paradoxically more interesting than it was at the outset. But despite certain denials of this intellectual enterprise by a central author of this tradition such as Manuel Castells[4], In our view, it would have been possible not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, and to combine an analysis of the spatial strategies of capitalist companies with a detailed study at urban level of the role of social groups, urban policies and local political scenes. The day will also provide an opportunity to delve into the intellectual history of the intersections and controversies with Henri Lefebvre's philosophical and sociological thinking on the city and the urban. This Lefebvre lineage has now become highly influential in the field of English-language urban studies, whereas in France, despite recent changes[5], We're a little behind the times when it comes to analysing this author and his legacy.

After the splintering of French Marxist urban sociologies in the second half of the 1980s into a number of sometimes divergent directions (observation of social change, urban and metropolitan governance, the Chicago sociological tradition, analysis of urban cultures, etc.), what remains today? What assessment and inventory can be made of these French Marxist urban sociologies? Is the neo-Marxist perspective intended almost exclusively for a macro-sociological and structural dimension «from above», like that of certain works of radical American geography (David Harvey, Neil Smith, etc.), or can it also be applied on a meso or micro scale? How does a Gramscian and neo-Weberian sociology of social groups fit in with Marxist urban sociologies, following in the footsteps of a sociologised political economy that combines changes in urban capitalism with changes in the social economy? Statehood ?

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[1] https://metropolitiques.eu/IMG/pdf/met-topalov.pdf.

[2] Danielle Bleitrach, Jean Lojkine, Ernest Oary, Roland Delacroix, Christian Mahieu, 1981, Working class and social democracy: Lille and Marseille, Paris Éditions sociales.

[3] Manuel Castells, Francis Godard, 1974, Monopolville. Analysis of the relationship between business, the State and the urban environment based on a survey of industrial and urban growth in the Dunkirk region, Paris, Moutons ; Paul Boccara, 1974, A study of state monopoly capitalism, its crisis and its outcome, Paris, Ed. Sociales.

[4] Géraldine Pflieger, 2006, From cities to networks. Dialogues with Manuel Castells, Lausanne, Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes.

[5] 4th colloquium of the Réseau international d'études sur la production de l'espace (RIEPE), «La production de l'espace au XXIe siècle. Luttes de pouvoir, pouvoirs des luttes», 26 June 2023, Lyon and Saint-Etienne

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On the programme:

Opening time: 9 a.m.

General introduction: 9.20 a.m. (Cesare Mattina, Claire Bénit and Nicolas Maisetti)

Round table, part I: 10am-12pm

«History and practices of French Marxist urban sociology in the 1970s»

Round table, part II: 1.45pm - 3.45pm

«What readings and what trajectories of Marxist urban sociologies in the years 1990-2000?»

Break

Round table, Part III: 3.45pm - 5.45pm

«Putting Marxist urban sociology concepts into perspective and mobilising them»

Conclusion: 5.45pm - 6pm

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Detailed programme:

I - Round table discussion moderated by Cesare Mattina and Sylvie Chiousse (MESOPOLHIS)

«History and localised practices of French Marxist urban sociology in the 1970s»

Section on the major witnesses to the local application of Marxist work in the 1970s: rereading of authors, research experiences and intellectual paths, local mobilisations of certain Marxist concepts, departures from certain initial Marxist credos, return to the quarrels between M. Castells and H. Lefebvre, the link between political activism and the intellectual strands of Marxism (Marxian/Angelsian, Althusserian, Foucauldian, etc., Castellsian), the role of ministerial funding of surveys, etc.

André Donzel, Former CNRS Research Fellow at the Mediterranean Sociology Laboratory in Aix-en-Provence (adzl[at]gmail.com)

Paul Bouffartigue, CNRS Research Director Emeritus at the Economics and Sociology of Work Laboratory (LEST) (paul.bouffartigue[at]univ-amu.fr)

André Bruston, Former Head of Social Sciences at the Ministry of Research and Technology, Permanent Secretary of the Urban Plan and Deputy Director of National Development Policies at the Ministry of Public Works; in the 1980s, adviser to the Urban Plan; then Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Urban Affairs (andre.bruston[at]laposte.net)

II - Round table chaired by Nicolas Maisetti (LAVUE) and Marida Borrello (LIEU))

«What are the readings and trajectories of Marxist urban sociologies in the years 1990-2000?

Section of the round table on the scattering of Marxist urban sociologists in several directions (urban culture and reconnection with the Chicago sociological tradition, governance, observation of social change, Lefebvrian threads of the right to the city, etc.). What paths were taken? What were the legacies of the 1990-2000 period and beyond? What continues to be fruitful at this time in the mobilised and mobilisable concepts of French Marxist urban sociology?

Patrick Le Galès, CNRS Research Director, science po Paris (patrick.legales[at]sciencespo.fr)

Hélène Reigner, Lecturer/researcher, Professor of town and country planning, Lieu laboratory (helene.reigner[at]univ-amu.fr)

Antonio Delfini, Independent sociologist (delfini.antonio.f[at]gmail.com)

Simon Le Roulley, Professor/researcher in educational sciences at the University of Paris.’ISMEE (Laboratoire de recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Socialisations, les Marges, l'Éducation et l'Expérience) at Sorbonne Paris Nord University (simon.leroulley[at]gmail.com)

III - Round table chaired by Claire Bénit (MESOPOLHIS) and Lina Raad (LIEU))

«Putting Marxist urban sociology concepts into perspective and mobilising them»

A section on how some researchers, young and not so young, in the social sciences have come to grips with French Marxist urban sociologies, and how they mobilise these concepts at different levels. What kind of inventories should be drawn up, and what extensions should be made? What links can be forged between macro-sociological and structural analyses, and meso-sociological and micro-sociological analyses? How do we use and mobilise the concepts of Marxist urban sociology (urban production, segregation, class fractions, ideology, the right to the city, etc.) in localised analyses today? How can we combine structural analyses of the profit cycles of the actors in urban capitalism, which can often seem overbearing, with more detailed field analyses and ethnographic approaches?

Mathilde Jourdam-Boutin, Post-doctoral researcher in geography, MESOPOLHIS/Aix-Marseille université (mathilde.jourdam[at]univ-amu.fr)

Edmond Préteceille, Emeritus Director of Research at the CNRS, Sciences Po Paris (edmond.preteceille[at]sciencespo.fr)

Christelle Morel-Journel, Professor/researcher in spatial planning at the EVS (environment, city, society) department at the University of Saint-Etienne (christelle.morel.journel[at]univ-st-etienne.fr)

Ivana Socoloff, Professor/researcher in sociology at the Institute of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Buenos Aires (IEALC-UBA) and member of the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) (ivisoc[at]gmail.com)