Faire la « Science de l’Homme », défaire la sociologie durkheimienne

Abstract

This article examines the Vichy regime’s place in the history of the development and institutionalization of the social sciences around the “Science of Man”. The model of a unified social science was particularly championed by the French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems (or Carrel Foundation) under the leadership of the economist François Perroux. This institution was directly and substantially financed by the Vichy Regime. It was part of the long history of the emergence of social sciences in France and constituted an important break in the same process. This break was particularly beneficial to the alliance between traditionalists and modernists at the time, particular at the expense of Durkheimian sociology. The article sheds light on François Perroux’s effort to discredit the Durkheimian tradition, both in his writings and in his way of organizing and thinking about the missions of the Carrel Foundation.