This award will support U.S.-France cooperation in cultural sociology between Michele Lamont of Princeton University and Laurent Thevenot, Director of the Political and Cultural Sociology Group of the French National Center for Scientific Research. They propose to hold research workshops to examine the principles used in the two cultures to define and assess social matters ranging from status and friendship to literature and politics. They have identified seven major topics and matched U.S. and French participants, including 6 advanced graduate students who will conduct research in France related to their dissertations. The proposal takes advantage of expertise in France and the U.S. in sociology. It offers a unique opportunity to conduct systematic cross-national comparisons. It will advance our understanding of theoretical underpinning of cultural sociology by combining the different approaches of American and French social sciences.
