School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences

About: School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences is a facility organization based out in Villejuif, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Politics. The organization has 1230 authors who have published 2084 publications receiving 57740 citations. The organization is also known as: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales & EHESS.

Embodied aesthetics: insight from cognitive neuroscience of the performing arts.

Abstract: Echoing the phenomenological tradition in philosophy, recent hypotheses have proposed that aesthetic experiences are grounded in the embodied simulation of the actions, emotions, and corporeal sensations represented in artworks. We refer to these simulative processes as “embodied aesthetics”. Recent investigations in cognitive neuroscience have helped us to explore the mechanisms of complex human experiences and some of them have been specifically dedicated to the study of the neural underpinning of aesthetic experience. Their results have repeatedly suggested that the creation and the perception of artworks activate a set of shared brain mechanisms, especially as far as performing arts (such as music and dance) are concerned. For instance, pleasurable dance may resonate in the spectators’ brain by enhancing the activity in motor-related areas. This evidence points to the universal involvement of a motor resonance mechanism in aesthetic experience. The present chapter will initially explore the general idea of embodiment. We will then describe some studies in the field of performing arts, where the human body is the object of aesthetic stimulation and the subject of the aesthetic experience. We will also describe how embodiment is modulated by different properties of the stimuli, by the performers’ body or by the preference of the observer. Overall, we expect to provide a framework to better understand aesthetic experience from an embodiment perspective, taking into consideration the different factors that interact with these processes, especially as far as the performing arts are concerned.

The social efficiency of instruments for the promotion of renewable energies in the liberalised power industry

Abstract: This paper compares the social efficiency of the two main regulatory instruments used to promote renewable energy sources in electricity generation (RES-E), taking into consideration their role in promoting the preservation of the climate. They are based on a purchase obligation and act either by price (feed-in tariffs) or by quantity (RES-E quotas). In their reference design, the instruments show different performances in several dimensions: market incentives intensity, control of the cost for consumers, safeguards of RES-E investments, and conformity with the new market regime of the electricity industry. The comparison shows that neither instrument offers an optimal solution in each of these dimensions. In particular, the intrinsic qualities of the quotas instrument that are put forward to mandate its adoption by the EU members are overestimated. A government will thus select an instrument in accordance with the relative importance of its objectives: environmental policy versus cost control by market pressure. © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © CIRIEC 2006.

Fundamentos empíricos da razão antropológica: a criação do PPGAS e a seleção das espécies científicas

Abstract: This article examines the profound change in the meaning of the word 'anthropology' in Brazil following the creation of a Ph.D. program at the National Museum. It also studies the introduction of structural anthropology at the end of the sixties in light of the controversy surrounding kinship theory that opposed David Maybury-Lewis and Claude Levi-Strauss. It relates conceptual and methodological innovations to the institutionalization of postgraduate programs, thereby opening the way for professionalization at a larger scale. In order to highlight the effectiveness of the alliance between the program's 'founding fathers,' the author reviews their social and intellectual paths based on distinct social capitals, careers and prestige. Examining the PPGAS archives allows to shed light on the expectations as well as the strategies of the 'founding fathers' around the time when they approached the Ford Foundation for funding both for higher education teaching and for regular fieldwork. Studying the social and intellectual characteristics of the different participants in international scientific controversies allows us to comprehend how international power relationships influence the evolution of systems of thought.

Shopping and cooking: the organization of food practices, at the crossing of access to food stores and household properties in France

Abstract: This paper explores different ways of organizing food practices in shopping, cooking, and managing leftovers and shows how these relate to sustainability. We conducted an ethnographic study in France based on in-depth and repeated interviews with around 30 ‘ordinary’ consumers aged between 30 and 87 years. We analyzed the interviews using a practice–theory approach and distinguished meanings, materials, and skills linked to food products and eating. We identify four patterns of everyday food practices, each coherently linking specific ways of provisioning, storing, cooking, waste sorting, and other practices. We show how households adopt patterns according to their social characteristics and place of residence and how they switch from one pattern to another according to circumstances. Each pattern comprises some sustainable practices, although not always at the same level. We highlight not only the role of material infrastructure in framing access to food products, but also the necessity to consider temporal organization, financial resources, household size, and social position to understand food practices. Food practices also differ according to definitions of proper eating, which may vary in the long run according to life course events, and in the short run according to the context of meals. We conclude by discussing different ways to promote more sustainable eating.