ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by describing the importance of Emile Durkheimian thought. Durkheim has contributed greatly to the success of the institutional perspective by assimilating the notion of institution with that of the social fact. Accordingly the social foreground expands, and the everyday world becomes risky and precarious. The objective, sacred institutions of tradition recede, and modern life becomes subjective, contingent, and problematic. The works of Ulrich Beck in Germany, Anthony Giddens in England or Francois Dubet in France can be situated in such an analytical vein. To understand the dynamics at work in modern society, a number of sociologists have emphasised the increasing lag between the actor and the system, which Durkheim was among the first to clearly notice. Therefore, the problem from this perspective is understanding how individuals, who can no longer be considered the mere product of institutional moulds, can live freely together, be actors in their own stories, reconcile different registers of experience.
