CHANGES – Social sciences of contemporary changes
In the Anthropocene era, unprecedented climatic, economic, technical and social changes are impacting the world. In order to understand and explain these changes using social science perspectives and tools, 12 research units in Bordeaux have come together to form the CHANGES - Social sciences of contemporary changes department.
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The CHANGES department was born out of the desire of social science research units to pool their strengths and skills in Bordeaux.
The scope of the department involves a broad interdisciplinarity within the Human and social sciences, combining disciplinary approaches in development, anthropology, architecture, demography, labor and social security law, epistemology, geography, history, history of science, history of law, landscape, philosophy, political science, economics, educational sciences, sociology, urban planning.
The scientific objective of the CHANGES department is to respond to the challenge of analyzing contemporary changes in all fields, including those of other sciences.
The historical context that motivates the focus on issues of change is that of an entanglement of the "natural", "technical" and "political" dimensions of increased risk and uncertainty in the governance of things and people, the extension of interdependencies, "butterfly effects" and solidarities between all levels.
The social sciences respond to these challenges with concepts and methods of inquiry and comparison that allow for a better understanding of how the reality in which we live is constructed, instituted, governed and transformed by relationships between actors.
Management
Director: Éric Macé
Deputy director: Marie Coris
Activities
Research activities at CHANGES are animated by an internal call for projects policy, intended to encourage the advent of original research projects or collaborative networking, with the objective of Human and social sciences actively contributing to major IdEx Bordeaux projects, as well as regional, national and European calls for research projects and collaborations with other scientific fields. These research activities have four main focal points:
- Focus 1: Change and/or consequence governance
- Focus 2: Innovations: products and results of change
- Focus 3: Actors of change: promotion, transformation and resistance
- Focus 4: Interdisciplinary analysis methodology in social sciences of change
The CHANGES department is a stakeholder in three Societal Innovation Centers (CIS):
- Forum Urbain
- VIA Inno, the technological intelligence platform
- Chrisalidh, the Resource Center for Social Innovation in Local Actions and Initiatives for Human Development
Key figures
- 12 research units incl. 5 joint research units, 900 members incl. 470 teaching, research & administrative staff & 430 doctoral students
- 7 scientific establishments jointly supervising the units
- 16 disciplines covering the entire field of Human and social sciences
Component structures of the department
The department is made up of 12 units, 6 of which are primary units, 3 secondary units and 3 associated units, of which 5 joint research units and 7 hosting teams.
Primary units
- Émile Durkheim Center (CED - UMR CNRS 5116 - Sciences Po Bordeaux)
- Culture and Dissemination of Knowledge (CeDS - EA 7440)
- Research Group in Theoretical and Applied Economics (GREThA - UMR CNRS 5113)
- Laboratory of Epistemology and of Subject Didactics (Lab-E3D - EA 7441)
- Passages (UMR 5319 CNRS - Bordeaux Montaigne University - ENSAP Bordeaux - UPPA)
- Science, Philosophy, Humanities (SPH - EA 4574 Bordeaux Montaigne University)
Secondary units
- Center for Comparative Labor and Social Security Law (COMPTRASEC - UMR CNRS 5114)
- Montesquieu Research Institute (IRM - EA 7434)
- International Economics and Finance Research and Analysis Laboratory (LAREFI - EA 2954)
Associated units
- Africa Worldwide (LAM - UMR 5115 CNRS - Sciences Po Bordeaux)
- Environment, Territories, Infrastructures (ETBX - UR Irstea)
- Architecture, Town, Environment, Profession (PAVE - Higher School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture)
Governance
Component council
The council is composed of 28 members from the 6 primary unit laboratory councils, including 15 lecturer-researchers and researchers, 4 support staff, 6 doctoral and post-doctoral students and 3 external members.
Directors' committee
The Directors’ committee is made up of the management team members from the 12 department units.
Scientific council
The Scientific council is composed of 4 members:
- Michèle Lamont, Professor of sociology, Harvard University, Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Bordeaux
- Bernard Debarbieux, Professor of geography, University of Geneva, Dean of the Faculty of Society Sciences
- Catherine Larrère, Professor Emeritus of philosophy, University of Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne
- Giovanni Dosi, Professor of economics at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa
Doctoral schools
Contact
Éric Macé
Director
Office N109 Avenue Léon Duguit
33608 Pessac Cedex
Marie Coris
Deputy director
Research booklet
Discover our multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and international research!
Keywords
Change, stakeholders, public action, international comparisons, democracy, interdependencies, markets, migration, norms and law, inequality and social justice, institutions, globalization, governance, controversies, social and political conflicts, gender, risks, health, knowledge, science, territories, transition.