B.A. Sociology, Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Montr茅al

M.A. Sociology, Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Montr茅al

Ph.D. Political and Social Sciences, Universit茅 libre de Bruxelles

Simon Lafontaine is closely interested in human mobility, social theory, urban sociology, communicative action, and digital literacy. He received his Ph.D. in political and social sciences in 2019 with a sociology thesis revisiting Alfred Sch眉tz's theory of action in the context of studies of mobility and migration in urban space. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the at Universit茅 de Montr茅al, where he continues his research. He recently published in the journal Human Studies (Springer) presenting his re-reading of Sch眉tz's work (DOI: 10.1007/s10746-020-09563-2). To characterize the structuring of modern societies into networks, one of the most dominant theoretical strategies is to substitute a logic of action with a logic of association that emphasizes the complex intertwining of social actors with material components. In particular, the turning point of mobility in the social sciences proposes to decentralize the importance of human subjectivity in the production and reproduction of social life in order to envisage a 鈥渟ociology beyond societies.鈥� This book project suggests an alternative path by relating mobilities to the performances of subjectivity, to moving bodies, and to the various objectivations supporting orientation in space and communication with others. Based on interviews with commuters who travel daily to Brussels and on American road novels, they ask the following questions: How do new meanings and unexpected changes emerge in ongoing action beyond anticipated reproduction? How does the road lead to crossing social boundaries, and how can the journey help to gain distance from home and a better appreciation of its self-evident pieces of evidence?