Social form of reforms: interview with Christian Topalov

Abstract

Christian Topalov, a sociologist who has contributed to various research projects (urban planning, big philanthropy, history of the social sciences, higher education, etc.) and retired director of studies at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in France, has built up a very original theoretical-methodological apparatus for examining the formation and deconstruction of the welfare state. In this interview, we discuss the way in which his work has gradually shifted from urban studies, in the wake of the 1968 revolts, towards a broad historical investigation into the genesis of reform as a social form that increasingly imposes itself on political processes - in the last instance, in such a way as to depoliticize them. The interview also discusses methodological strategies (prosopography, network analysis, multiple correspondence analysis, etc.) for analyzing historical transformations, as well as the relationship, either complicit or conflicting, between science and politics.