A DESIRE FOR HISTORY: ALAIN TOURAINE’S SOCIOLOGY OF WORK (1948-1973)

Abstract This article will seek to problematize the first phase of Alain Touraine’s theoretical production, from his study on the Renault factories (1948) to the publication of Production de la Société (1973). During this phase, the author developed numerous and extensive empirical research programs on the world of industry and work, and had the problem of worker consciousness as one of his central concerns. We will emphasize the importance of these studies, little known by the academic public, as well as the relationship that Touraine established with Latin America, in particular Brazil and Chile, in the formation of his sociological theory. We will try to show that the theory that the author produced in this phase sought to respond the need for a supposed modernization of Western society, whether the center or the periphery.