Cet ouvrage propose un panorama des acquis de la recherche sociologique francophone sur les vieillesses et les vieillissements tels qu’ils sont socialement structurés dans nos sociétés. Il s’agit de déconstruire les représentations majoritairement négatives de la dernière partie de l’existence, en déplaçant le regard habituellement porté sur la vieillesse et les vieux.

Background: The fields of demography, sociology, and socio-psychology have been increasingly drawing on social network theories, which posit that individual fertility decision-making depends in part on the fertility behavior of other members of the population, and on the structure of the interactions between individuals. After reviewing this literature, we highlight the benefits of taking a social network perspective on fertility and family research.
Objective: We review the literature that addresses the extent to which social mechanisms, such as social learning, social pressure, social contagion, and social support, influence childbearing decisions. Methods: We review the most recent contributions of the social networks approach for the explanation of fertility dynamics in contemporary post-industrial societies.
Conclusions: We find that all of the social mechanisms reviewed influence the beliefs and norms individuals hold regarding childbearing, their perceptions of having children, and the context of opportunities and constraints in which childbearing choices are made. The actual impact of these mechanisms on fertility tempo and quantum strongly depends on the structure of social interaction.

Background: Multimorbidity can be operationalized as the presence of multiple psychosomatic symptoms and has been shown to be detrimental to the quality of life across the life span. Middle-aged adults are generally engaged in multiple life domains simultaneously. This is one of the developmental challenges of middle adulthood as it can lead to conflict between the demands of different domains and, in turn, contribute to multiple psychosomatic symptoms, thereby diminishing the quality of life. This may be particularly true for women. Facilitation between life domains may serve to reduce the number of psychosomatic symptoms. However, this subject has been largely neglected in the literature. Objective: We aimed to close this gap by investigating the influence of conflict and facilitation between life domains (work, family, leisure) on self-reported psychosomatic symptoms in middle-aged women and men. Methods: Life domain conflict/facilitation and psychosomatic symptoms were assessed via self-report in a cross-sectional study with 277 adults aged 30-55 years (mean = 41.70, SD = 7.2; 56.7% women) who all worked at least 30 h/week and lived with their partner or family. Results: In line with our hypothesis, women reported more psychosomatic symptoms when they experienced conflict between life domains. However, contrary to expectation, they did not profit more from facilitation than men and, at low levels of facilitation, women even reported more psychosomatic symptoms than men. In men, there was no association between life domain conflict/facilitation and psychosomatic symptoms. The results were robust when statistically controlling for neuroticism. Conclusions: Engagement in multiple life domains influences the frequency of psychosomatic symptoms in women, but not in men: women suffer more and profit less than men from combining work, family and leisure.

Different fields of psychology have shown that future time perspective (FTP) has an important role in changing individual attitudes and behaviours. However, recent societal conditions, like the economic crises of the Western world, may have changed the meaning itself of the future, passing from hope to threat. This article discusses possible consequences of this change of sign of the future and the implications of future time perspective as an educational strategy in multicultural context. Synthesizing the concepts of future time orientation and generativity, a distinction between personal and social FTP is proposed. Whereas personal FTP is oriented to personal achievement and can be embedded into the Western culture but not into other cultures, social FTP is proposed as a resource for community building. Social FTP stresses the importance of the survival of the community, focusing on long-term and inclusive goals which transcend individual personal achievement. Social FTP is proposed as a cross-cultural tool for improving intergroup and interpersonal relations.

This paper analyzes the determinants of women on the boards of directors based on a panel sample of all Danish companies in the private sector with more than 50 employees. The share of women on the boards of directors was 12 percent in 2007 and has only slowly increased during the period 1997-2007. We test three hypotheses on female board representation which we denote the female-led hypothesis, the tokenism hypothesis, and the pipeline hypothesis, respectively. Based on fixed effects estimation we find that the female- led hypothesis cannot be supported. Firms with a female chairman of the board of directors tend to have significantly fewer other non-staff board members. We find clear evidence of a tokenism behavior in Danish companies. Having one non-staff woman on the board is negatively related to the chance of hiring another woman for the board of directors. Finally, the pipeline hypothesis is partly confirmed. The share of women among the group of CEOs and VPs from other firms in the industry is positively related to having a women on the board.

Far from the vision of popular actors in the popular economy as reactionary and archaic, stubbornly resisting any move towards change, this book's overall aim is to contribute to a broadening and deepening of our understanding of the logic and socio-economic practices of those operating in the informal economy. It focuses on the vulnerabilities of these participants, resulting from high exposure to different risks combined with low social protection, and on the interactions between vulnerability and poverty. It considers security of livelihoods as the guiding principle for multiple practices in the informal economy. Thirteen studies, based on careful analyses of empirical data in different contexts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, contribute to this multidisciplinary discussion.

This book describes how people develop their own strategies to solve their problems through the use of interpersonal networks, associations, and other community-based arrangements. Moreover, it shows that informal economy actors systematically reposition themselves vis-à-vis the State, markets, international, and national policies with the aim of enhancing their economic and social security, and they may do this either individually or collectively. The book emphasizes how adaptability of the informal economy can be influenced by such factors as the macroeconomic context, access to financial, technological, and information resources, infrastructure, social protection schemes, and the institutional environment within which adaptations occur. Case studies stress the need to reformulate questions relating to policy intervention based on a more thorough understanding of the perspective of informal economy actors.

Table of contents
Dharam Ghai: Foreword
1: Isabelle Hillenkamp, Frédéric Lapeyre, and Andreia Lemaître: Introduction: Informal Economy, Vulnerabilities, and Popular Security-Enhancing Practices
Part I. A Plurality of Socio-economic Logics: New Polanyian Approaches to Informality and Vulnerability
2: Andreia Lemaître: Popular Cooperatives and Local Development in Southeast Brazil: Towards Socio-Economic Pluralism
3: Isabelle Hillenkamp: Solidarity and Protection in Bolivian Popular Economy
4: Gonzalo Vázquez: Self-managed Work, Social Protection, and Community Development: The Case of the UST Cooperative (Argentina)
5: Maïté le Polain and Marthe Nyssens: An Analysis of the Socio-economic Logics Underpinning Formal and Informal Strategies for Coping with Economic Hardships in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Part II. The Role of Financial Practices and Institutions in Securing Livelihoods
6: Hadrien Saiag: Financial Practices as Adaptations to Increasing Vulnerability: The Dynamics of Solidarity and Protection in the Suburbs of Rosario, Argentina
7: Genauto Carvalho de França Filho, Ariádne Scalfoni Rigo, and Jeová Torres Silva Júnior: Microcredit Policies in Brazil: An Analysis of Community Development Banks
8: Solène Morvant-Roux, Isabelle Guérin, and Marc Roesch: Demand for Microcredit, Informal Finance and Vulnerability in Rural Morocco
9: Pierre-Germain Umuhire and Marthe Nyssens: Informal and Formal Microfinance in Urban Sub-Saharan African Markets: The Case of Micro-Entrepreneurs in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
10: Edoardo Totolo: Exploring the Black-Box of Economic Informality: Social Networks and Institutional Change among Micro and Small Enterprises in Nairobi, Kenya
Part III. Formalizing the Informal? A Critical Assessment
11: James Heintz and Lynda Pickbourn: Determinants of Earnings in Informal Self-Employment: The Case of Ghana
12: Sergio Ferragut and Georgina M. Gómez: From the Street to the Store. The Formalization of Street Vendors in Quito, Ecuador
13: An Ansoms and Jude Murison: Formalizing the Informal in Rwanda: From Artisanal to Modern Brick and Tile Ovens
14: Basak Kus: Neoliberal Reforms, Regulatory Change and the Informal Economy: The Case of Turkey from a Comparative Perspective Jean-Philippe Peemans: Postface: Another Look at the Informal Sector, its Many Stakes and Challenges