La notion de capital social est liee a celle de personnalite morale des societes. Malgre les critiques qui ont pu lui etre adressees et les defauts qui peuvent etre releves, cette notion est essentielle en droit des societes et son importance doit etre affirmee. Un point semble acquis en fonction des reformes recentes, ce n'est plus un instrument de controle de la societe (le droit de vote n'est plus uniquement fonction de la possession d'actions). Lui attribuer ce role n'entrainerait que deception et critiques. En revanche, le capital social est un instrument fondamental en matiere de financement de l'activite sociale; il faut en ce sens l'envisager de maniere extensive (cela vise la possible inclusion des apports en industrie, et le regime de ce que l'on peut appeler quasi-capital). Il a aussi un role a jouer comme instrument de protection des creanciers (non comme gage direct, mais comme garantie indirecte), grace aux principes de fixite et d'intangibilite, qu'il faut cependant redefinir clairement : et dans une moindre mesure comme instrument de protection des associes par le role d'ecran qu'il joue parfois. En conclusion, la reflexion aboutit a affirmer la necessite du capital social, et lui organiser un reel statut juridique, notamment par une redefinition des regles qui le caracterisent.

Le capital social

Situated Cognition in Theoretical and Practical Context [Book Chapter]

How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks Robin Dunbar Harvard University Press, 2010 University of Oxford Professor Robin Dunbar has written a series of essays exploring the evolutionary origins of a multitude of seemingly unrelated modern behaviors He manages, though to smoothly transition between essays, chapter to chapter, and at the end of the book comes full circle back to his opening theme There are those who have suggested that what distinguishes humans from other animals is the ability to use language, formulate moral codes or tool making However, Dunbar suggests that the crucial differentiation between the primates, including humans, and other animals is the primates' highly involved social relationships, the source of cooperative social groups which facilitate individual survival and reproductive fitness Culture, defined behavioral norms, and products of intellectual effort, such as literature and sciences, is seen as an extension of human biology and not a separate entity as currently claimed by social scientists Human social interactions, then, leads to the formation of the things that we assume to be "uniquely" human The source human culture is the brain, the neocortex in particular The neocortex is not only the center of higher motor and sensory function but also of memory and reasoning Dunbar demonstrates a positive correlation between primate neocortical size and group size Since the human brain does not have an infinite capacity for memory and reasoning, there is an upper limit to the number of people with whom humans are able to have meaningful, face-to-face interactions and the limit is 150, ie, "Dunbar's Number" In addition to social interaction, increasing neocortical size over the course of human evolution allowed for the development of other cognitive adaptations such as "mind reading," or the perception of others' intentions ("I believe that you think that") Increasing degrees of "intentionality" moved a personal belief to a shared community belief ("I want you to know that we both believe that God wants us to" ) That humans are capable of stepping away from the world as it is and ponder on what could be has implications for the origin of religion and its role in binding community members Humans somehow know when critical mass is attained - how human groups know when to break off at 150 is not explained - but Dunbar's Number repeatedly appears as an upper limit to group size, in hunter-gatherer, preagricultural tribes, in medieval-era English villages and into contemporary social networks Despite the dominance of mass urban culture, intimate groupings the size of Dunbar's Number appear in various ways Dunbar and his colleagues found that every Christmas, individuals send Christmas cards to an average of 68 households Adding up the individuals in each household works out to a total of around 150 Businesses with less than 150 employees tend to have informal management structures and employees exhibit mutual cooperation and trust, whereas larger companies suffer from a "disproportionate amount of absenteeism and sickness" Here Dunbar only briefly alludes to the psychological effects seen in large groups which lack close interpersonal relationships, the effects of which are so striking that they cannot be easily overlooked Particularly in the West, one can readily note a general lack of altruism and trust but an abundance of aggressive competition (Miller, 2009; Alkon, 2010) Perhaps extreme social disconnection underlies the infrequent but lethal shooting sprees in the US, wherein individualism is, perhaps excessively, valued Similarly lethal violence is beginning to appear in other western countries - perhaps a similar, severe sense of alienation also motives these perpetrators1 Rather than "mutual obligation and reciprocity," modern social interactions are structured by contracts and laws backed by coercion …

How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks

In this monograph, Bray and Kwo provide a list of supplementary tutoring in 32 countries in Asia which indicates the scale and spread of this type of education in this region. Private tuition has been in existence in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for some time, whereas in parts of Central and Northern Asia, it is now gaining momentum after being muted during the Soviet ear prior to 1991. The monograph by Bray and Kwo also focus on regulating private tutoring for public good. The authors offer various policy options for governments and suggestions for implementation. Having shown that private tutoring is becoming a global phenomenon and a huge industry, they also discuss private tutoring participation by subjects and the mode of tutoring such as one-to-one either in the tutor’s or the student’s home, which is usually more expensive than other modes (i.e. small-group tutoring, large-classes in classrooms or lecture theatres and internet and broadcast tutoring). The book starts with an introduction mapping out the conceptual framework and moves on to elaborate on what and who should be regulated. In chapter two, they discuss the scale and spread of private tuition, which has moved beyond Asia to become a global phenomenon. They then discuss the subjects and modes of providing tuition. The diversity of providers range from university students, mainstream school teachers, professional tutors to online tutoring. They also provide country examples, in terms of the magnitude of private tutoring. In chapter three, the authors provide cogent reasons as to why private tutoring should be regulated. They begin with social inequalities brought about by socio-economic, racial/ ethnic, rural/ urban and gender differences. They also consider the backwash effect on regular schooling. They introduce the metaphor of corruption in situations where mainstream school teachers deliberately reduce the coverage of regular lessons to increase the demand for private tuition. Chapter four deals with the various requirements needed for companies providing private tutoring, regular teachers providing tutoring, students and other self-employed persons providing tutoring and Internet tutoring. The chapter cites the requirements needed for serving teachers in twenty-one countries. In the succeeding chapter the authors state that for the implementation of private tutoring to be effective, the following factors have to be considered: (i) Deploying the necessary personnel, (ii) Educating the consumers for informed choices, (iii) Encouraging self-regulation and (iv) Building partnerships – with schools, teachers’ unions, other branches of governments, community bodies and with media The authors recommend that authorities should involve all the stakeholders for the pursuit of public good and conclude that a government’s responsibility is not only to pay attention to the quality and impact of education of the public sector, but also to include the private sector to promote sound social and economic development. In the six chapters of the monograph, they trace the growth and expansion of the private tuition industry in the Asian region and discuss both its positive and negative effects on the regular school system. The authors make a strong case as to who and why the industry should be regulated. Country-specific examples in the region are provided and their experiences are discussed in depth. Also, Bray and Kwo provide suggestions as to how rules and regulations can be effectively implemented.

Regulating private tutoring for public good: Policy options for supplementary education in Asia

Cet article introductif passe en revue les principaux themes relatifs au developpement des nouvelles economies du savoir. Apres avoir place l'emergence de ces economies dans une perspective historique et propose un cadre theorique pour distinguer savoir et information, cet article tente de saisir ce qui constitue la specificite de ces economies. Il traite ensuite quelques grandes questions a propos des competences nouvelles requises pour s'inserer dans cette economie, de la nouvelle geographie qui s'esquisse (dans laquelle la contrainte de distance physique cesserait de dominer), des conditions d'acces a l'economie du savoir, notamment pour les pays en developpement, de l'inegal developpement de la connaissance selon les secteurs d'activite, des problemes de propriete intellectuelle et de privatisation de la connaissance, des questions de confiance, de memoire et de fragmentation des savoirs.

Une introduction à l'économie et à la société du savoir : La société du savoir

Le propos contenu dans cette recherche concerne les plateformes interactives et reticulaires peuplant desormais notre quotidien, et qui se presentent d’abord a nous sous la forme d'objets techniques, mais dont les usages construisent des representations sociales. Des mediations informationnelles s’y developpent que nous avons voulu etudier en capturant celle du francais dans le contexte de ses apprenants thailandais a l’Universite, pour une langue reputee difficile, non apparentee et distante. Une double analyse quantitative et qualitative menee en partie avec le logiciel NVivo nous a permis de mettre a jour le fait que, sous certains aspects et dans certains environnements, un reseau socio-numerique comme Facebook pouvait faciliter un apprentissage informel participant a une economie de la connaissance. Nous avons identifie des usages et des pratiques specifiques qui ne sont pas ceux d’une plateforme d’enseignement a distance concue comme telle. Ainsi, une certaine creativite s’y exercerait dans la construction de documents scripto-audio-visuels sur des dispositifs techniques mediateurs et multiplateformes ou l’autonomie de l’usager y serait culturellement et socialement situee par les identites, appartenances, perceptions, habitus et autres dispositions qui structurent sa relation au monde et vont conditionner son envie, sa maniere ainsi que sa capacite pratique a s’approprier des elements d’apprentissage de la langue.

La médiation informationnelle au travers de plateformes de réseaux sociaux : l'application de Facebook lors de l'apprentissage du français langue étrangère en Thaïlande

Bruno Marchal

Papers

La médiation informationnelle au travers de plateformes de réseaux sociaux : l'application de Facebook lors de l'apprentissage du français langue étrangère en Thaïlande