Pétrifier un statut, consolider son identité. Les textes réglementaires et leur histoire dans la mémoire des groupes sociaux et professionnels

In: Cahiers de sociologie économique et culturelle: une revue interdisciplinaire de sciences humaines et sociales, Volume 53, Issue 1, p. 71-83

Abstract

Petrifying a status and consolidating one's identity. The history of statutory regulations and its reflection in the memory of social and professional groups

The observation of a diversity of professional groups endowed with a official status (public servants, miners, railroad workers, dockers, hospital staff, policemen…) reveals that the relations between the construction of a collective identity, collective memory, and the real history of social struggles and of the institutionalization of a professional status, are complex variable, and often paradoxical. The analysis is grounded on the author's numerous and variegated investigations and publications about the history of labour and workers' unions.