Cinematic Sociology: An Interview with Joyce Sebag and Jean-Pierre Durand La Sociologie filmique : entretien avec Joyce Sebag et Jean-Pierre Durand En Fr

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Joyce Sebag and Jean-Pierre Durand are a husband-and-wife team of cinematic sociologists at the University of Evry’s Center Pierre Naville, just outside Paris. After having devoted two rich decades to the sociology of work, in 1995 Sebag and Durand’s lifelong fascination with the image led them to launch the Master’s program Image and Society. Their MAs and PhDs gain a unique combination of cinematic training rooted in social science expertise, with degrees awarded contingent upon the production of a sociological film. During this time Sebag and Durand also produced three documentaries, Dreams on the Line about new conditions of work in a California car factory, Nissan: a History of Management about the strategy of a multi-national firm, and 50 Years of Affirmative Action in Boston, about affirmative action in America. As a result of their efforts, the Association Française de Sociologie recently recognized cinematic sociology as an official field of study. They are interviewed by Jordanna Matlon, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse.just outside Paris. After having devoted two rich decades to the sociology of work, in 1995 Sebag and Durand's lifelong fascination with the image led them to launch the Master's program Image and Society. Their MAs and PhDs gain a unique combination of cinematic training rooted in social science expertise, with degrees awarded contingent upon the production of a sociological film. During this time Sebag and Durand also produced three documentaries, Dreams on the Line about new conditions of work in a California car factory, Nissan: a History of Management about the strategy of a multinational firm, and 50 Years of Affirmative Action in Boston, about affirmative action in America. As a result of their efforts, the Association Française de Sociologie recently recognized cinematic sociology as an official field of study. They are interviewed by Jordanna Matlon, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. JM: Why do you refer to what you do as cinematic, and not visual sociology? JS: I think that visual sociology has existed for a long time, and it's more an analysis of photography and film than a way to think with images. We want to try to find a way for sociology to enunciate things with photography and film. JM: What would you consider the specific skills of a cinematic sociologist? JS: When you study something you think you have accomplished something very rational and you have a great distance from it. You think that you are "outside" the object. And one reason for using media for support is that you show that you are always inside the research.