Reading workshop
"Governing the city
Reading and research workshop on "Governing the city".
Session coordination and moderation
The purpose of the reading and research workshop
The aim of this workshop is to revisit the debates and social science texts on the ways in which cities have been governed since the beginning of the 20th century. It is based on questions relating to the localised analysis of politics and responds to the need, experienced in our own research, to articulate and hold together three dimensions:
To do this, we thought it would be useful, indeed necessary, to have a 'library', if not a common one, then at least a shared one, by taking the time to read together bodies of scientific texts at this intersection. The principle of the workshop is based on reading and debating these scientific texts - whether fundamental or emerging - from our multiple perspectives in terms of disciplines, research subjects and themes, and scientific maturity. The Reading and Research Workshop is open to all (young and experienced researchers, MESOPOLHIS researchers and researchers from elsewhere, all interested disciplines), and offers a convivial forum for discussion.
We wanted to start the workshop (for 2021-22) by reading the 'classic' North American texts belonging to the community (power) studies This is a reference point and an inspiration for our own research work, which we feel is little known in France. We wanted to get to the heart of the Community Power Studies starting with 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 American studies start with small and medium-sized towns and then, in the 1950s-1970s, extend to larger cities as the controversy over the oligarchic or polyarchic nature of power on an urban scale develops. Using urban monographs as a starting point, they analyse the figures of the boss We have seen the emergence of the "urban machine" and political machines, through growth coalitions and urban regimes, then the Marxist urban sociologies of the 1970s and 1980s, and finally the work on urban governance and its neoliberalization.
Organisational principles
These workshops take the form of work sessions lasting between 2 and 2.5 hours. Two or three texts (articles or chapters) are circulated two weeks before each workshop.
The session begins with a short presentation of the authors and the selected texts, followed by a free discussion of both the texts and the way in which each of us can mobilise their dimensions (theoretical, conceptual, methodological, empirical, etc.) within our own research.
Timetable and schedule (2021-2022)
We wanted to begin the workshop (2021-22) by reading the 'classic' North American texts belonging to community (power) studies: a point of reference and inspiration for our own research work, which we feel is little known in France. To get to the heart of the Community Power Studies debate, we focused on the debate between elitist (Elitist) and polyarchical (Pluralist) theories of power, which structures the controversy over "who governs the city?
American community studies began with small and medium-sized towns and then, in the 1950s-1970s, expanded to include larger cities, as the controversy over the oligarchic or polyarchic nature of urban power developed. 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.
The first year of workshops will focus mainly on North American studies (by sociologists, anthropologists, urban planners and political scientists) on urban government, with an emphasis on studying original texts and ways of using them in our research.
| Theme | Texts and authors | Dates | Texts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation of the workshop idea and session on : Community Power studies - the debate between elitist and polyarchical theories of power (1) | Floyd Hunter / Robert Dahl | 24 June 2021 2pm-4.30pm EPS room 105 | Text 1 |
| Community Power studies - the debate between elitist and polyarchical theories of power (2) | Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz / William Domhoff / Clarence Stone | 30 September 2021 MMSH room A154 2pm-4.30pm | Text 1 Text 2 Text 3 |
| Class stratifications in the city and 'politics without appearing to be politics'. The community studies of Robert and Helen Lynd and William Lloyd Warner in small-town America (1920s-1940s) | Helen and Robert Lynd / Lloyd Warner | 2 December 2021, MMSH room A154 | Text 1 (1/4) Text 1 (3/4) Text 1 (4/4) Text 1 (2/4) Text 2 (1/2) Text 2 (2/2) Text 3 |
| Community Power studies - the debate between elitist and polyarchical theories of power (3) - the tyranny of growth | John Logan and Harvey Molotch, Urban Fortunes | Friday 28 January 2022, EPS 105 2pm-4.30pm | Download the texts |
| Building coalitions to influence the city - power to, power over/ urban regimes | Clarence Stone (with Sébastien Lambelet) | 25 February 2022 EPS 105 2pm-4.30pm | Download the texts |
| From "urban regimes" to "urban orders" to understand city government? | Clarence Stone (2) (with Sébastien Lambelet) | 19 May 2022 EPS 105 2pm-4.30pm | Download the texts |
| Governing the city under constraints & review and capitalisation of the workshops for the following year (2022-2023) | Paul Peterson, City Limits (With Gilles Pinson) | 16 June 2022 MMSH, room A154 2pm-4.30pm | Download the texts |
2022-2023
This year is devoted to deepening the reading explored in the previous year.
A weekly reading seminar in English will be offered to IEP Aix-en-Provence Masters students from February to May 2022 (Thursdays 8-10am). For further information, please contact Claire Bénit-Gbaffou.
In addition, new reading and research sessions will be offered during 2023, to expand on the 2021 corpus (themes of the 'political machine' and clientelism) or to build another corpus of texts to be explored for 2023-24.