Reading Workshop archives
"Governing the city

We wanted to begin the workshop (2021-22) by reading the 'classic' North American texts from the community (power) studies A reference point and inspiration for our own research work, which we feel is little known in France. To get to the heart of the Community Power Studieswe focused on the debate between elitist theories (Elitist) and polyarchic theories (Pluralist) of power and structures the controversy around "who governs the city?

Studies that are part of the community studies These American studies begin with small and medium-sized towns and then, in the 1950s-1970s, extend to the largest cities, with the development of the controversy over the oligarchic or polyarchic nature of power on an urban scale. Starting with urban monographs, they analyse the figures of the 'boss' and the political machinery, moving on to growth coalitions and urban regimes, then to the Marxist urban sociologies of the 1970s and 1980s, and finally to the work on urban governance and its neoliberalization.