Les universitaires au pouvoir ?

For several decades, the figure of the committed intellectual seemed to have faded, giving way to that of the expert occasionally consulted by those in power. Yet recent political developments suggest a strong return of academics in the political arena. How can we understand this reconfiguration of the relation between scholarly knowledge and partisan action?
Through cross-cutting investigations and testimonies, this book explores the contemporary forms of political engagement among social science researchers, particularly on the Left. The collected contributions examine the role of academics within parties, social movements, and electoral campaigns, as well as the ways in which their knowledge circulates, transforms, or loses value within the political field.
From the French Socialist Party to Podemos, from Berlin's libertarian feminists to the intellectuals of La France insoumise, from professors involved in presidential campaigns to researchers turned into elected officials, the volume offers an unprecedented overview of the politicization of academic knowledge and expertise. Between the growing autonomy of the scientific field and the return of the militant scholar, Academics in Power? offers an original sociological reflection on the political uses of knowledge, the tensions between expertise and commitment, and the redefinition of the boundaries between university and democracy.