Touraine, Alain

(1925- )

   sociologist

   Born in Hermanville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Alain Touraine, at the beginning of his career, established the foundation for an industrial sociology based on the practice of studying the place of work relationships in the wider social context. He emphasized not social class but social movements (Production de la socieété, 1973) and the possibility of social transformation (Le Retour de l'acteur: essai de sociologie, 1964). Director of the Centre d'analyse et d'intervention sociologique, he supported the necessary connection between sociological awareness and social action. He also did a number of studies of Latin America (La Parole et le Sang: politique et société en Amérique latine, 1988), where he is particularly well known. in Critique de la modernité, Touraine questions the validity of reason and the rational.