Frédéric Lesemann

Un vigoureux plaidoyer T.R. Marmor, J.L. Mashaw, P.L. Harvey. America's Misunderstood Welfare State . New York: Basic Books, 1990. Un vigoureux plaidoyer , Frédéric Lesemann, Université de Montréal.

The book is a vigorous analysis for the defense of the several programs constiting the American Welfare State. It certainly represents one of the strongest and most meaningful counter critic of the conservative critics of social programs during the last 15 years. The book belongs to an ongoing political analysis current which stresses that, for a nation, in order to compete within the new world economic order, public policies have to be extensively developed and supported, especially in the field of manpower training, universal health services and fair pension levels for retired persons. Consequently, the politics of less and less State intervention clearly runs counter to the ability of a nation to address the challenges posed by a worldwide economy.

Christian Lalive d'Épinay. Vieillir ou la vie à inventer . Paris: L'Harmattan, 1991, pp. 303.

Based on 138 interviews with elderly persons living at home, aged 60 to 80, the book presents a sociological analysis of the ageing process. These persons talk about sources of joy or stress and anxiety for them. They describe their everyday life made up of constant negotiation and invention of their material and psychological living conditions. Day after day they invent, organise and reorganise these conditions especially when periods of dependancy happen. The book also includes an analysis of the adversity of representations, according to social classes, as regards retirement, former professional activities, management of everyday space and time conditions, decline, illness and death.