{"id":3083,"date":"2026-06-12T17:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/?page_id=3083"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:06:25","slug":"se-ressaisir-editorial-genesis-and-reception-no-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/se-ressaisir-editorial-genesis-and-reception-no-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Se Ressaisir.\u00a0Editorial Genesis and Reception"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Rose-Marie Lagrave<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Analyzing the process leading to the publication of a work, which thereafter structures its reception, requires considering that beyond the text itself, a work is inscribed in a publishing field. What to make of this banal observation when publication was not aimed for, or when the reception surpasses the author\u2019s expectations? Returning to the particularity of Se Ressaisir <\/em>gives the opportunity to present the various paths to publication and the diverse uses of a text.<\/span><\/p>

The ambiguities of a context<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Essais d\u2019ego-histoire <\/em>[Essays of ego-history], edited by Pierre Nora in 1987, Chantal Jacquet\u2019s 2014 Les transclasses ou la non-reproduction <\/em>[Transclasses: A Theory of Social Non-Reproduction, <\/em>]and Philippe Lejeune\u2019s Les brouillons de soi <\/em>[Drafts of Self] are three waypoints for the rising strength of autobiographical writing in the social sciences. They were cautiously received, at first, in the field of social sciences, due to an aversion against any hint of subjectivity and possible drift towards the \u201cbiographical illusion\u201d (Bourdieu, 1986). However, as two recent introductions demonstrate, the social sciences have become more receptive to self-narratives. Feminist epistemologies have integrated the standpoint<\/em> to knowledge (Harding, 2004) as it is considered to assure greater objectivity in the research process. Moreover, the normalisation of the degree of Habilitation to supervise research (HDR) has encouraged the autobiographical expression of the author, through the writing of a \u201cshort dissertation [1]. Self-narratives in the social sciences have become less exotic and less exposed to the stigmatization in an environment that has been resistant to autobiography, although its favorite field remains literature. To cite just two, the books of Annie Ernaux and \u00c9douard Louis have become bestsellers. And despite their authors\u2019 intentions, they have contributed to giving their readers a representation of transfuges de classes <\/em>as \u201cmiraculous\u201d.<\/span><\/p>

It was in this paradoxical context that I received an invitation from the sociologist Claire Ducournau. She wanted to explore \u201cwhat talking about oneself means,\u201d in an issue of the online journal Genre, Sexualit\u00e9, & Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 <\/em>dedicated to \u201cegologies\u201d (Ducournau, 2010). In responding positively to her request, I nonetheless indicated \u201cthat I would never have consented to this exercise had I not been approached by the editors of the journal, as if breaking the silence could only find its legitimacy outside oneself, within the frame of this academic exercise\u2019s well-known dynamics.\u201d<\/em> This digression underlined my difficulty in permitting myself to speak about myself; the mediation of a request was needed. The same phenomenon recurred again. After reading this article, the sociologist Paul Pasquali suggested that I expand upon it for publication with La D\u00e9couverte [2]. After publishing Passer les fronti\u00e8res sociales <\/em>[Passing Social Borders] in 2014, Pasquali had all the dispositions and skills for recognizing and drawing attention from a larger public to the uncertain path of social mobility.<\/span><\/p>

The acceptance of this synopsis by the editorial committee of La D\u00e9couverte fell into a context of intensified publications by transfuges de classe<\/em>, as much in social sciences as in literature. Without our mutual awareness [3], I thus joined other colleagues simultaneously engaged in writing socioanalyses. This recourse to autobiography is also explained by a generational effect for those who arrived at retirement and felt the need to take up the threads of a trajectory now in decline, which trajectory must be recorded in order to understand its logic and its meaning. It is encouraged and supported by the intensification of relations between social sciences and literature, of which autobiographies are the paragon, insofar as they tend to borrow a novelistic style and romanticize lives.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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It\u2019s no minor paradox that the explosion of publications by transfuges de classe <\/em>comes just as downward mobility has become one of the most notable phenomena of recent decades (Bourdieu, 1978; Peugny, 2009; Maurin, 2009). There is a generational effect, between the generation of retirees who benefitted from the social advantages of the welfare state and believed in a better future, and the generations of their children and grandchildren, carrying devalued diplomas and being socially and politically disillusioned. The narratives of these transfuges de classe <\/em>(including my own) that highlight upward social mobility do not match the frequent stagnations and regressions of current social trajectories. In this respect, these autobiographies of transfuges de classe <\/em>mark the end of a liberating education system, which engineered potential passages across social boundaries. The publishing field captured well this turning point, publishing some of the last beneficiaries of social salvation through schooling. And this impression of a swan song is reflected in the reception of Se ressaisir.<\/em><\/span><\/p>

An unexpected but sociologically predictable reception<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

In an attempt to clarify the different appropriations of the work, I will draw together different materials concerning its reception, distinguishing between reviews in social science journals, seminar presentations, letters from readers, and readings in libraries or bookstores. With the exception of Didier \u00c9ribon\u2019s comment at the 2021 symposium \u201cWriting one\u2019s life, narrating society. Autobiography at the risk of sociology,\u201d held at the National Library of France (BNF), in which he declared my book to be \u201chorrendous and homophobic,\u201d<\/em> and that of the anthropologist Bernard Hours who held that the book \u201cis cold and doesn\u2019t express the passion of a life, the affective and emotional dynamics,”<\/em> [4] the reception from my sociological colleagues was unexpected. By emphasizing method, they underlined the challenge implied in researching so close to oneself (Bouffartigue, 2022 ; Rabier, 2022) and the pitfalls linked to the exercise of self-reflexivity (Piponnier, 2024). They assessed the work in light of the question posed by Jean-Claude Passeron (1990, p. 3): \u201cIs there a biographical method capable of offering to sociology the guarantees of proof and reasoning that characterize other data processing methods?,\u201d<\/em> and they concluded that the essay was promising in this regard. Thereby validating the sociological dimension of the work, these reviews thus count autobiographies among the legitimate objects of sociology. While discourses on method are the prerogative of sociologists, method is the least of the reader\u2019s concerns.<\/span><\/p>

In the case of Se ressaisir, <\/em>the reception includes reports in generalist newspapers, media interviews, meetings with readers during presentations in libraries or bookstores, and the letters and emails I received. The media appearances and newspaper reports emphasized what was considered a performance: the reconstitution of my family history, and, as part of it, my own fragmented trajectory. They particularly highlighted the cleavage between the initial handicaps and my family\u2019s collective \u201csuccess,\u201d between the impossible made possible. The questions also touched the term \u201ctransfuge,\u201d rather than \u201ctransclass,\u201d and it was necessary to make it clear that transfuge is neither a noun nor a quality, but a process of class migration. I noted a deep consistency between radio programs and generalist newspapers, which share the same cultural space, the same literary references, and know the tricks for promoting a book. As the majority of journalists are inheritors (Lafarge, 2019), curiosity is what guides them when seeking to understand a trajectory that transgresses the logic of social reproduction. They would emphasize the uniqueness of my trajectory, often related back to and summarized by my family of origin. Eleven children, an ascetic and rigorous catholicism, the social consequences of illness, the daily life in a village of 348 people – in their eyes, these features painted a strange setting. Of all these readings, that of Tiphaine Samoyault in L\u2019Obs <\/em>(2021) is the most comprehensive and the one that aligns best with my intentions, receptive as she is to the details of the work, often ignored elsewhere. For these journalists, it is the distance between them and me that intrigues them, and they seek to pierce its secret.<\/span><\/p>

An opposite logic inspires ordinary readers, as the majority of their letters express a closeness to the author. The recurring question put to me in letters and at conferences is whether my trajectory would still be possible in 2026, given the education system\u2019s inability to counteract social inequalities in the schools, as if the French schools of the 1950s were more egalitarian. This question and others suggest a reading of my book through the prism of a lost world \u2013 a world I do not, however, describe through rose-colored glasses. Not having the possibility to assess the social characteristics of the readership, the quality of their reception and their competence as I could evaluate it from the length of their letters, their style, and their analytical capacity attest to a high level of education, which is often corroborated by the indication \u201cI am a secondary school teacher.\u201d The majority of the letters I received are situated within this social space for which the education system ensured a certain social ascension, though expectations had been more ambitious. The beginning of the letters is always the same: they indicate that they have not had as \u201cprestigious\u201d a trajectory as mine, and then, through analogy, note a series of points of convergence with my path. Identification is the most frequent way to convey the focus on some of my specific experiences: boarding school, the grip of catholicism, injustices, and class contempt are the most frequently themes evoked and reworked.<\/span><\/p>

The process of appropriation of the work invites readers to revisit their own trajectories in the light of the embodied experience it offers. They feel recognized by a book that allows them to reflect on their own paths, which, in view of this reading, appear in a new light. Reading Se Ressaisir <\/em>is nothing but a pretext to engage in a reading of oneself. The longest letters are true personal narratives, dotted with resentments against an unjust society, and an indictment of the silencing and lack of recognition of ordinary people, who relate to it even more as they cannot write it in the first person. This sort of revelation experienced by readers also plays in reverse, as they point to those elements left out of the book, notably concerning my private life, or the narrative shortfall around my integration into the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), thereby accentuating the readers\u2019 active engagement and capacity to co-construct a work.<\/span><\/p>

While the horizon of expectation inscribed in the text calls for a process of recognition among non-inheritors, the extra-textual horizon of expectation, which carries the expectations of the social milieu at any given moment, is harder to ascertain (Jauss, 1978). It is marked by ambiguities, disposed to let the meaning of the work drift towards its opposite. The craze for accounts of transfuges de classe <\/em>hides, in effect, an intent to deny the reproduction of social classes. Transfuges de classe <\/em>are the proof of the efficacy of a social elevator that assures convenient fluidity between classes, perhaps even challenges their existence. Autobiographical narratives, if they do not carefully underline that transfuges de classe <\/em>are the exceptions that make the rule of social reproduction, sometimes rebound in veiled terms against Bourdieu. \u201cThe doleful narrative is the counterpart to deterministic theories in sociology: even when individuals escape the mechanisms promised to them and destined to assign them their social category, it can only work through suffering,\u201d writes sociologist G\u00e9rald Bronner (2023, p. 113). The narratives of transfuges <\/em>thus become sites of struggle between competing positions in the social sciences. Nevertheless, the majority of the receptions underlined the satisfaction of seeing the question of social classes return to the spotlight. All emphasize my individual \u201csuccess,\u201d even if the text indicated that if there was any success, it had to be collective, leading forward towards a classless society.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Footnotes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

[1] <\/span>In the French system, the Habilitation to supervise research, introduced in 1984, is the highest academic degree and allows the supervision of doctoral dissertations. It includes a biographical section.<\/span><\/p>

[2] La D\u00e9couverte, founded in 1983, is the successor to Maspero. The publisher specializes in social science research aimed at a broad audience.<\/span><\/p>

[3] To only mention the main publications:\u00a0 Delsaut (2020), Winock (2020), Delahaye (2021), le Foll (2021), Michel (2021), Alter (2022), Le Bihan (2021) and Moreau (2022).<\/span><\/p>

[4] The author makes a mistake in the subtitle and in the body of the text by writing \u201can anthropological study\u201d instead of an autobiographical study.<\/span><\/p>

References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

  • Alter, N. (2022) Sans classe, ni place. L\u2019improbable histoire d\u2019un gar\u00e7on venu de nulle part<\/em>. Paris: PUF.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Bouffartigue, P. (2022) \u201cCompte-rendu\u201d, La nouvelle revue du travail<\/em>.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Bourdieu, P. (1978) \u201cClassement, d\u00e9classement, reclassement\u201d, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales<\/em>, 24, pp. 2-22.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986) \u201cL\u2019illusion biographique\u201d, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales<\/em>, 62-63, pp. 69-72.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Delahaye, J. (2021) Exception consolante. Un grain dans la machine.<\/em> Amiens: \u00c9ditions de la Librairie du Labyrinthe.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Delsaut, Y. (2020) Carnets de socioanalyse. \u00c9crire les pratiques ordinaires.<\/em> Paris: Raison d\u2019agir.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Ducournau, C. (2017) La fabrique des classiques africains. \u00c9crivains d\u2019Afrique subsaharienne francophone<\/em>. Paris: CNRS \u00c9ditions.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Ducournau, C. (ed.). (2010) \u201cEgologies\u201d, Genre, Sexualit\u00e9& Soci\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Harding, S. (ed.). (2004) The feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Hours, B. (2022) \u201cCompte-rendu de Se ressaisir<\/em>\u201d, L\u2019homme et la soci\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>, 216, pp. 245-246.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Jacquet, C. (2014) Les transclasses ou la non-reproduction<\/em>. Paris: PUF.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Jauss, H. (1978) Pour une esth\u00e9tique de la r\u00e9ception<\/em>, Paris: Gallimard.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Lafarge, G. (2019) Les dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s du journalisme. Sociologie g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de destins singuliers<\/em>. Rennes: PUR.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Le Bihan, Y. (2021) Confessions impersonnelles. Un transfuge en socioanalyse<\/em>. Nanterre: Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Le Foll, S. (2021), Reste \u00e0 ta place\u2026\u00a0! Le m\u00e9pris, une pathologie bien fran\u00e7aise.<\/em> Paris: Albin Michel.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Lejeune, P. (2015) Les brouillons de soi<\/em>, Paris: Le Seuil.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Maurin, E. (2009) La peur du d\u00e9classement. Une sociologie des r\u00e9cessions.<\/em> Paris: Le Seuil.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Moreau, G. (2022) S\u2019asseoir et se regarder passer. Itin\u00e9raire(s) d\u2019un sociologue de province<\/em>. Paris: La Dispute.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Nora, P. (ed.). (1987) Essais d\u2019ego-histoire<\/em>. Paris: Gallimard.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Pasquali, P. (2014) Passer les fronti\u00e8res sociales. Comment les \u2018fili\u00e8res d\u2019\u00e9lite\u2019 entrouvrent leurs portes. <\/em>Paris: Fayard.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Pasquali, P. (2021) H\u00e9ritocratie. Les \u00e9lites, les grandes \u00e9coles et les m\u00e9saventures du m\u00e9rite (1870-2020)<\/em>, Paris: La D\u00e9couverte.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Passeron, J. (1990) \u201cBiographies, flux, itin\u00e9raires, trajectoires\u201d, Revue fran\u00e7aise de sociologie<\/em>, 31 (1), pp. 3-22.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Peugny, C. (2009) Le d\u00e9classement<\/em>. Paris: Grasset.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Piponnier, A. (2024) \u201cSur Se ressaisir\u201d, Open Edition Journals<\/em>, 46, pp. 421-426.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Rabier, M. (2022) Revue fran\u00e7aise de science politique<\/em>, 72, p. 828.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Samoyault, T. (2021) \u201cLes bifurcations d\u2019une vie\u201d, L\u2019Obs<\/em>, 2937.<\/span><\/p><\/li>

  • Winock, M. (2020) Jours anciens<\/em>. Paris: Gallimard.<\/span><\/p><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Rose-Marie Lagrave Analyzing the process leading to the publication of a work, which thereafter structures its reception, requires considering that beyond the text itself, a work is inscribed in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3083","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3083"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3356,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3083\/revisions\/3356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}