La notion de transaction sociale à l’épreuve du temps

Abstract

30 years ago now, the work Produire ou reproduire ? Une sociologie de la vie quotidienne appeared. The authors, Jean Remy, Liliane Voyé and Émile Servais proposed understanding change and stability in western societies by means of the notion of social transaction. If the latter has been the object of numerous reappropriations since then, a re-examination of its present-day pragmatic relevance for researchers in the social sciences seems called for. The article begins by introducing the context in which the notion was forged. It then dwells on the profound societal modifications and, correlatively, on the displacements of perspective which have taken place, in sociology notably, since the work's publication. Subsequently, a detour through the conceptual sources of the social transaction is proposed. Finally, the article proposes the idea that the notion is useful for researchers in the social sciences as an invitation to adopt a particular epistemological posture consisting in bring a number of variables back into the heart of the analysis.