Raymond Boudon - Curriculum vitae#

Short Biographical data

Raymond Boudon was born in 1934 in Paris; has been professor at the University of Bordeaux and member of the National Centre for Scientific Research. He has been Professor at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) since 1967.

He has been elected member of the Institut de France (in its Académie des Sciences morales et politiques) and of the Academia Europaea; and foreign member of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, the Central European Academy of Art and Science, the International Academy of Human Sciences of St Petersburg, the Academia de Ciencias Sociales of Argentine. He has been president of the European Academy of Sociology.

He has been fellow at the Center for advanced study in the behavioral sciences, and invited professor notably at the University of Geneva, Harvard University, the University Bocconi of Bologna, Oxford University, the University of Chicago, New York University, the University of Stockholm and the University of Trento.

He has been invited to give the Lazarsfeld lecture at Columbia University, the Patten Foundation Lecture at Indiana University, the Lurçy Lecture at the University of Chicago, the Sidney Ball Lecture at Oxford University, the Fulvio Guerrini Lecture at the University of Turin, the Eilert Sund Lecture at the University of Oslo, the Wei Lun Lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

He is doctor honoris causa of the universities of Cluj (Rumania) and Antwerp (Belgium). He has received the Prix Girardeau of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, the Grand Prix Moron of the Académie française, the Prix Futuribles, the European Price Amalfi for the Social Sciences, the Grand Prix des Sciences Humaines de la Ville de Paris, the international Tocqueville Price.

He has been the editor of the Année sociologique. He is editor of the series Sociologies at the Presses Universitaires de France. He is member of the editorial board of the series Theory and decision, Epistémè, Rationality and Society. He has been member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Sociology. He has been the editor for the Sociology section of the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Curriculum vitae#

Born

27 jan. 1934, Paris. Married, one son. Member of the Institut de France (Académie des sciences morales et politiques). Former Professor at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.

Education
École Normale Supérieure (rue d’Ulm), Paris, 1954-1958, University of Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany), 1956-1957, Agrégation de philosophie, Sorbonne, Paris, 1958, Columbia University , New York, 1960-1961, Doctorate (Doctorat d’Etat), Sorbonne 1967.

Professional positions

Research fellow, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), 1961-1963; Associate Professor, University of Bordeaux, 1963-1967; Professor, Sorbonne (University Paris IV), Paris, 1967- 2002. Professor emeritus, Sorbonne (Paris IV).

Fields of interest

Sociology of Education, Values, Beliefs, Sociological Methodology et Theory.

Scientific functions

Former Editor, L'Année sociologique (Paris); Member of the editorial board of Quality and Quantity (Amsterdam), Commentaire (Paris), Rationality and Society (Chicago), Theory and Decision (Berlin), Revue suisse de sociologie/Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Thesis (Moscou), Former member of the editorial board of: Revue Française de Sociologie (Paris), The American Journal of Sociology (Chicago), European Sociological Review (Oxford). Editor, series “Sociologies”, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France. Member of the editorial board of the series Metodos (Barcelona), Epistémè (Berlin). Director, Centre d'Etudes Sociologiques (CNRS, Paris), 1968-1971. Director, Groupe d'Etude des Méthodes de l'Analyse Sociologique (U. of Paris-Sorbonne/CNRS), 1971-1998.

Scientific distinctions

Elected member of: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1977, Academia Europaea, 1988, Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, 5 march 1990, British Academy, 1997, Central European Academy of Art and Science, 1997, Academy of the Human Sciences of St Petersburg, 1995, European Academy of Sociology (president), 2001, Royal Society of Canada, 2001, Academy of the social sciences of Argentina, 2005, Académie internationale de philosophie des sciences, Bruxelles, 2007. Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1972-73.

Prix Futuribles (1978), Prix européen Amalfi de sciences sociales (1995), Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris (1998), Grand Prix du Livre des dirigeants (2005), Prix Tocqueville (2008). Doctor Honoris Causa : Cluj, Antwerpen.

Honorary lectures

46th Hobhouse Lecture, London School of Economics, 1981; 5th Lazarsfeld Lecture, Columbia University, 1982; 1st Lettura Fulvio Guerrini, Centro Luigi Einaudi, Turin, 1984; Patten Foundation Lecture, Indiana University, 1985; Lurçy Lecture, University of Chicago, 1986; Annual public Lecture, Max Planck Institut für Sozialforschung, Cologne, 1988; V. Aubert Lecture, U. of Oslo, 1991; Sidney Ball Lecture, Oxford, 1995. Eilert Sundt Lecture, U. of Oslo, 1998, Wei Lun Lecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999.

Invited professor

Invited professor, Harvard University (1975-76); University of Geneva, (1978-1998); University of Stockholm; European University, Florence; Fondation Getulio Vargas, São Paulo; University of New York; University of Chicago (Winter, 1986); Université Laval, Québec; Quebec U. in Montreal, 1994.

National distinctions

Légion d’honneur (Officier), Ordre National du Mérite (Commandeur), Palmes académiques (Officier), Ordre des Arts et Lettres (Chevalier).

Current research fields

Sociology of values
How can values be explained. The various theories used by the social sciences in this respect. Irrational vs. rational theories of values. How can moral values notably be explained. The weaknesses of the irrational theories. The weaknesses of the nowadays influential naturalistic theories of values. Developing a rational theory of values, along the lines proposed by Weber. Can this cognitivist theory of values explain empirical data from social psychology and sociology, notably as far as the feelings of fairness and justice are concerned ?

Theory of rationality
The so-called rational choice theory is very influential today. The reasons why it is. That it is unsufficient. There are many social phenomena that cannot be easily explained within the framework of this model. Thus, the so-called Allais’ paradoxes cannot be explained in this fashion. Nor can many easily observable moral feelings can be explained in this fashion, as the negative feelings produced by stealing. Why? Notably because this model is weak at explaining beliefs, both positive and normative. A new theory of rationality can be developed, the cognitivist one, of which the « rational choice theory » in the american sense appears as a special case. This theory explains in a more satisfactory fashion the variation of moral feelings and beliefs along time and space.

History of sociology
A general history of sociology and more particularly of the cristallisation of sociological ideas, paradigms, theories, etc. is developed by the author on a collective and international basis.