Abstract
This study discusses the theoretical grounds of Alain Touraine’s actionalism. It revisits the theoretical course taken by the author from his first researches on the worker’s consciousness in the 1950’s to a more recent period, when Touraine intends to abandon sociology and move to a reinvented moral science. The study ends with a question on the pertinence and the limits of a remobilization of Touraine’s sociological device to analyse the second wave of the global movement. From the idea of a democratic conflict that characterizes this movement, it indicates the contributions and limits of Touraine’s sociology to respond to this challenge.
Keywords:
Actionalism; Historicity; Conflict; Social Movements; Global Movements