Jean Viard is a sociologist and CNRS research director at CEVIPOF, Center for Political Research at Sciences Po Paris. His areas of research are social times, but also territorial planning, agriculture and political behavior. He provides his analysis of the main developments in society.
What do you think are the major trends in consumer society?
Jean Viard: For 150 years we had been in an ideology of progress, where we constantly had to go faster, higher, etc. And then, little by little, quality of life took precedence over progress. This is the shift, even if that does not prevent technological progress. And then, the pandemic put science back in the middle of societies. We realized that it could save us and this also impacted our relationship with nature. What has changed is the penetration of ecological sentiment into the economy. Moreover, 30% of young people consider that the ecological battle is the first battle. Like that of energy elsewhere. The objective is to rebuild a habitable land. We are witnessing an immense anthropological rupture in a society where man has never been so free. The individual has become empowered, both men and women. Men are taking care of children more and more and women are increasingly pursuing careers… The question is how these great upheavals will fit in with the great climate war to do something positive. That’s the issue.
Do the young people you just spoke about aspire to new values, from your point of view?
J. V. : The youth today has no major political ideologies. The previous generation, which is mine, claimed a conviction of citizenship. We were left-wing, we were right-wing, we were revolutionary. We entered into an ideology a bit like religion. Young people today carry out hit operations. They vote less, but are not less engaged. This is the generation of equality between men and women, of the refusal of racism…
What role do brands play in our society? And do they have a role to play anyway?
J. V. : I am very close to the thoughts of Raphaël Llorca (author of The national novel of brands: the new French imagination). He is right: these are the brands that today carry national, even regional, identities. And, basically, politicians have become financial managers. Politics, no longer having major ideologies, has lost a large part of its function. While de Gaulle spoke of France on every street corner, Emmanuel Macron does not seek to embody France in the sense that he would have to be both peasant and worker, old and young, man and woman, mountaineer and peasant from the plain… He doesn’t play with that.
The family has also evolved in its structure. What is the impact on consumer society?
J. V. : The problem is that 63% of babies are born out of wedlock. And 30% of families are blended. We live with tribal families who are no longer institutional. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t very supportive and helpful. For example, on the job market, the family tribe is the first network for finding a job, well before France Travail. The family tribe is very solid, but it is not institutional. We want to be free, in our relationship, in our work… We are no longer even convinced that we need a permanent contract to live, even if self-employed or self-employed people work 40% more than employees … We don’t know what our retirement will be like… The French are no longer ready to grant institutions the direction of their lives. So, in a way, we have never been so free. But freedom increases the risk of failure.
What do we do with this freedom?
J. V. : Lots of things. We go on vacation, we travel, we consume culture, we surf the Internet, we watch series. The French have never had so many information tools. Some TV shows attract millions of viewers who listen to intellectuals explain their vision of the world. We are in a society that is extremely cultured. And then, on the other hand, there is a society which is in refusal, geographically far away and which has no network, no codes… But at the same time, there have never been so many people who are installed in the countryside. In all the villages, there are new inhabitants, who have studied and chosen to live there. As a result, they are reinventing a micro-mesh of the territory, a network of solidarity. Faced with this profound change, there is sometimes a negative feeling, a feeling of collapse because we are moving from one cultural model to another… We are moving from the ideology of progress to climate war, so we change the world. And when we change worlds, if there is no leader, what can we hold on to?
A word about seniors. What do you think of the place they occupy in society?
J. V. : Between 60 and 80 years old, a slice of social, democratic, educational life opens up to seniors. This is what is new in our societies. From the age of 60, people get involved, they are local elected officials, administrators of associations and they vote… They constitute an extraordinary democratic class. Each generation has its social function.
What is the impact of recent developments in working conditions and the perception of work in our society?
J. V. : The discourse on work developed with industrial research, then, little by little, we moved into a society of free time. What is exciting is to succeed in restoring to work its density, its function. Work is what connects us to each other to give strength to humanity, to enable it to try to master the world and, if possible, to escape the climate war. And how to regain strength? Work must once again become a strong value, but within a contemporary society. Useful time at work is a real subject. If teleworking increases productivity, it is because there are many fewer meetings and less wasted time. And there is no age limit for going to work, it depends on the profession. The rate of French people in work, between 14 and 64 years old, has never been so high in France.
Does this create a risk of detachment from the company? We are less often gathered, all together, in a workplace.
J. V. : This is a real cause for concern. The company is the structure that wins the trust of citizens well before politicians, and by a long way. SMEs have a huge confidence rate and large groups have scored points during the pandemic. When you ask the French what symbolizes the Republic, they answer a school, a town hall and, thirdly, a company. For what ? Because it is the place of work, of friendships, of love sometimes… The feeling of usefulness is also the feeling of exploitation, of course. All this is changing and, in companies, we are moving towards a model of days per week of teleworking. We feel that this model is possible, because it maintains balance.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
