Masters

"Intet er farligere end en idé, når man kun har én, og intet er farligere end en guru, når man ligeledes kun har én. Det er undren, de mange idéer, de mange mestre, de mange kritiske syn, som samfundet og den sociologiske fantasi ernærer sig af."

Dominique Bouchet i "Sociologiske visioner" Systime Aarhus 2003 side 237

 

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea if you only have one, and nothing is more dangerous than a guru if you likewise only have one. It is wonder, the many ideas, the many masters, the many critical perspectives society and the sociological imagination feeds on."

Dominique Bouchet i "Sociologiske visioner" Systime Aarhus 2003 side 237

I believe that – thanks to my parents, my oldest sister and my school teachers –  I learned most from what I passionately read since I was a teenager, not to mention the great inspiration and experience from the novels, movies, plays I was fortunate to read or watch as a teenager. We lived in Paris 15, that is to say not far from Montparnasse and the Eiffel Tower. Although none of my parents had had this opportunity themselves (they both had to work from the age of 12), my mother took me to the Comédie Française from the age of 10 to enjoy Molière's and many other classical plays. A few years older I could watch the modern plays produced at the TNP, Théatre National Populaire (All of Bertolt Bretch for instance, thanks to Jean Vilar who was in charge then). On the other bank of the river Seine, at the Palais de Chaillot, I could watched for almost no money the movies at the Cinémathèque (thanks to Henri Langlois who created it and to André Malraux who allocated cultural funds to it). I also enjoyed all the museums. Radio- and TV programs were almost of no interest to me then.

There are two main reasons for which I like to mention the names of my many masters. The first one is that I believe students still could learn much more from reading works than from textbooks and research papers. The second reason is that most of my mentors' names remain unknown to many of my Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian colleagues. I strongly believe that it is not enough for scholars only to be able to read english publications.

My top 150 masters as of 1989

Since then I encountered many more (see below), but I guess I learned the most from those I read when I was under 40.

In bold characters: The 45 names of those who inspired me the most.

In capital letters: The top 10. Edgar Morin & Cornelius Castoriadis being number one.

[Note that I have not listed authors who died before I was born. (If I had, at the letter M, I would have listed: Machado, Mann, Mauss, Marx, Molière, Monet, Montaigne, Montesquieu, Musil...

Adorno, Theodor – Antelme, Robert – Arendt, Hannah – Ariès, Philippe ARON, Raymond Atlan, Henri Attali, Jacques Augé, Marc Axelos, Kostas Bachelard, Gaston Baczko, Bronislaw BALANDIER, Georges Baltrusaitis, Jurgis BAREL, Yves Barth, Fredrik Barthes, Roland Bartoli, Henri Bastide, Roger BATAILLE, Georges Bateson, Gregory BAUDRILLARD, Jean Bénichou, Paul Berger, Peter L. Berlin, Isaiah Bettelheim, Bruno Blanchot, Maurice Boorstin, Daniel J. Braudel, Fernand Brune, François Bunzel, Gustav Caillois, Roger Camus, Albert Canetti, Elias Cassirer, Ernst CASTORIADIS, Cornelius Certeau, Michel de Char, René – Clastres, Pierre Corm, Georges Debord, Guy Delacampagne, Christian Deleuze, Gilles Descombes, Vincent Desroche, Henri Détienne, Marcel Devereux, Georges Devos, Raymond Diéguez, Manuel de. Dolto, Françoise Domenach, Jean–Marie Donzelot, Jacques Douglas, Mary Duby, Georges Dumézil, Georges Dumont, Louis Dumouchel, Paul DUPUY, Jean–Pierre Durand, Gilbert Duvignaud, Jean Eco, Umberto Elias, Norbert Ellul, Jacques Erikson, Erik H. Floch, Jean–Marie Foucault, Michel Francastel, Pierre – Freund, Julien Fromm, Erich Furet, François GAUCHET, Marcel Geertz, Clifford Georgescu–Roegen, Nicholas Giarini, Orio Girard, René Gorz, André Goux, Jean–Joseph Granet, Marcel. Greimas, Algirdas Julien Groethuysen, Bernard Guillaume, Marc Gurvitch, Georges Gusdorf, Georges – Habermas, Jürgen Hall, Edward T. Henry, Michel Heusch, Luc de Hirschman, Albert O. Huizinga, Johan Illich, Ivan Iribarne, Philippe d' Jacob, François Jacquard, Albert – Jonas, Hans Laborit, Henri – David S. Landes – Laplantine, François Lasch, Christopher Latouche, Serge Le Moigne, Jean–Louis Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel Leach, Edmund Lefebvre, Henri LEFORT, Claude Legendre, Pierre Leroi–Gourhan, André Lévi–Strauss, Claude Levi, Primo Leys, Simon Lizot, Jacques Lorenz, Konrad Luckmann, Thomas Lukes, Steven – Lyotard, Jean-François Manent, Pierre Marin, Louis Maturana, Humberto Mendel, Gérard Merleau–Ponty, Maurice – Moles, Abraham Montagner, Hubert MORIN, Edgar Moscovici, Serge Mosse, George – Nisbet, Robert Orléan, André Papaioannou, Kostas Passet, René Paz, Octavio – Perniola, Mario Perroux, François – Polanyi, Karl Popper, Karl Prigogine, Ilya Radkowski, Georges–Hubert de Raynaud, Fernand Ricœur, Paul Rorty, Richard Rosanvallon, Pierre Rosnay, Joël de Rougemont, Denis de Rubel, Maximilien Ruffié, Jacques Sahlins, Marshall Sansot, Pierre Sartre, Jean–Paul Scardigli, Victor Sennett, Richard Serres, Michel Sfez, Lucien Shorter, Edward Steiner, George Strauss, Leo Tati, Jacques Touraine, Alain Vaneigem, Raoul Varela, Francisco Veyne, Paul Vigarello, Georges Zeldin, Theodore

My top 260 masters as of 2024

Note that I have not listed authors who died before I was born. (If I had, at the letter M, I would have listed: Machado, Mann, Mauss, Marx, Molière, Monet, Montaigne, Montesquieu, Musil...

Adorno, Theodor – Agamben, Giorgio – Anati, Emmanuel – Antelme, Robert – Arendt, Hannah – Ariès, Philippe – Aron, Raymond – Artus, Patrick – Atlan, Henri – Attali, Jacques – Augé, Marc – Axelos, Kostas – Bachelard, Gaston – Baczko, Bronislaw – Balandier, Georges – Baltrusaitis, Jurgis – Barel, Yves – Barth, Fredrik – Barthes, Roland – Bartoli, Henri. – Bastide, Roger – Bataille, Georges – Bateson, Gregory – Baudrillard, Jean – Bénichou, Paul – Berger, Peter L. – Berlin, Isaiah – Bettelheim, Bruno – Blanchot, Maurice – Bloch, Marc – Bloom, Allan – Blumenberg, Hans – Boltanski, Luc – Bonnefoy, Yves – Boorstin, Daniel J – Bouvier, Pierre – Boyer, Robert – Braudel, Fernand – Brune, François – Caillé, Alain – Caillois, Roger – Camus, Albert – Canetti, Elias – Canguilhem, George – Canto-Sperber, Monique – Cassin, Barbara – Cassirer, Ernst – Castoriadis, Cornelius – Certeau, Michel de – Char, René – Chalvon-Demersay, Sabine – Chiappello, Ève – Clastres, Pierre – Cohen, Daniel – Comeliau, Christian – Corm, Georges – Cyrulnik, Boris – Debord, Guy – Delacampagne, Christian – Deleuze, Gilles – Delorme, Robert – Descombes, Vincent – Desroche, Henri – Desrosières, Alain – Détienne, Marcel – Devereux, Georges – Devos, Raymond – Diéguez, Manuel de – Dolto, Françoise – Donzelot, Jacques – Dortier, Jean-François – Dosse, François – Douglas, Mary – Duby, Georges – Dumézil, Georges – Dumont, Louis – Dumouchel, Paul – Dupuy, Jean–Pierre – Durand, Gilbert – Duvignaud, Jean – Eco, Umberto – Elias, Norbert – Ellul, Jacques – Erikson, Erik H. – Faccarello, Gilbert – Finkielkraut, Alain – Floch, Jean–Marie – Fontaine, Laurence – Foucault, Michel – Fourest, Caroline – Francastel, Pierre – Freitag, Michel – Freund, Julien – Fromm, Erich – Furet, François – Gauchet, Marcel – Geertz, Clifford – Georgescu–Roegen, Nicholas – Giarini, Orio – Girard, René – Goffman, Erving – Gori, Roland – Gorz, André – Goux, Jean–Joseph – Granet, Marcel – Gras, Alain – Greimas, Algirdas Julien – Groethuysen, Bernard – Guillaume, Marc – Gurvitch, Georges – Gusdorf, Georges – Habermas, Jürgen – Hadot, Pierre – Hall, Edward T. – Hartog, François – Hatchuel, Armand – Heinich, Nathalie – Henry, Michel – Heusch, Luc de – Hirschman, Albert O. – Huizinga, Johan – Ignatieff, Michael – Illich, Ivan – Iribarne, Philippe d' – Jacob, François – Jacquard, Albert – Jakobson, Roman – Kracauer, Siegfried – Kriegel, Blandine – Laborit, Henri – Lahire, Bernard – Landes, David S. – Laplantine, François – Lasch, Christopher – Latouche, Serge – Latour, Bruno – Laufer, Romain – Laurent, Sylvie – Laval, Christian – Le Moigne, Jean–Louis – Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel – Leach, Edmund – Lefebvre, Henri – Lefort, Claude – Legendre, Pierre – Legros, Robert – Lenclud, Gérard – Leroi–Gourhan, André – Lévi–Strauss, Claude – Levi, Primo – Leys, Simon – Lizot, Jacques – Lorenz, Konrad – Luckmann, Thomas – Lukes, Steven – Lyotard, Jean-François – Maalouf, Amin – Mandelbrot, Benoît – Manent, Pierre – Marin, Louis – Martucelli, Danilo – Marzano, Michela – Maturana, Humberto – Mendel, Gérard – Merleau–Ponty, Maurice – Moles, Abraham – Montagner, Hubert – Moody–Adams, Michele – Morin, Edgar – Moscovici, Serge – Mosse, George – Nancy, Jean–Luc – Neiman, Susan – Nisbet, Robert – Noiriel, Gérard – Nora, Pierre – Nørrentranders, Tor – Orléan, André – Ory, Pascal – Ozouf, Mona – Papaioannou, Kostas – Passet, René – Paugam, Serge – Perniola, Mario – Perroux, François – Picq, Pascal – Piketty, Thomas – Polanyi, Karl – Popper, Karl R. – Prigogine, Ilya – Quéré, Louis – Radkowski, Georges–Hubert de – Raynaud, Fernand – Revault d'Allonnes, Myriam – Reynié, Dominique – Ricœur, Paul – Romilly, Jacqueline de – Rorty, Richard – Rosanvallon, Pierre – Rosnay, Joël de. – Roudinesco, Elisabeth – Rougemont, Denis de – Rubel, Maximilien – Ruffié, Jacques – Sadin, Éric – Safranski, Rüdiger – Sahlins, Marshall – Salais, Robert – Sansot, Pierre – Scardigli, Victor – Schnapper, Dominique – Schneider, Michel – Semprini, Andrea – Sennett, Richard – Serres, Michel – Sfez, Lucien – Shorter, Edward – Simone, Raffaele – Simondon, Gilbert – Sloterdijk, Peter – Stangerup, Henrik – Steiner, George – Stiegler, Bernard – Stiglitz, Joseph E. – Strauss, Leo – Supiot, Alain – Taguieff, Piere-André – Tarot, Camille – Tati, Jacques – Testart, Alain – Thevenot, Laurent – Todorov, Tzvetan – Touraine, Alain – Vandenberghe, Frédéric – Vaneigem, Raoul – Varela, Francisco – Veil, Simone – Veyne, Paul – Vigarello, Georges – Virilio, Paul – Wagner, Peter – Wagnleitner, Reinhold – Wieviorka, Michel – Wunenburger, Jean–Jacques – Zarka, Yves Charles – Zeldin, Theodore.

Invited researchers to Denmark since I got a position there

I have taken the initiative to invite the following researchers to Denmark and organized a research seminar for them to present their research to other researchers: 1979: Maximilien Rubel; 1980: Miguel Abensour; 1982: Edgar Morin; Margaret Manale; 1986: Jean Baudrillard; Yves Chalas; Mioara Mugur Schachter; Ilya Prigogine; 1987: Cornelius Castoriadis, Jacques Donzelot; Edgar Morin; 1988: Francisco Varela; Geneviève Calbris; 1989: Orio Giarini, René Passet, Jacques Robin, Alain Caillé, Paul P. Christensen, Yves Barel, Henri Bartoli; 1990: John Sherry; 1991: George Fisk; Ronald Tuninga, Ugur Yucelt, Sidney Levy, Philip Kotler, Alladi Venkatesh, Deborah Ashley, A. Fuat Firat; 1992: Alladi Venkatesh, George Fisk, Saadi Lahlou, Claude Fischler, Erdener Kaynak, George Cheney; 1993: Alladi Venkatesh, George Cheney, A. Fuat Firat, Han Srinivasan; 1994: Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, Romain Laufer, Annamma Joy, Ruby Dholakia, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Jean-Claude Usunier, Fuat Firat, Güliz Ger, Young Rak Choi, Robert Salais; 1995: Fuat Firat, Russ Belk, Richard Wilk, Stephen Cummings, Han Srinivasan, Suresh Subremian, Patrick Hetzel; 1996: Alladi Venkatesh, Russell Belk, Jean-Claude Usunier, Güliz Ger, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Eric Arnould, Cliff Shultz II, Edgar Morin, Ken Friedman; 1997: Linda Price, Eric Arnould, Alladi Venkatesh, Dominique Desjeux, Jean-Marie Floch, Alladi Venkatesh, Alain Drouard, Richard Wilk, Anne Pyburn; 1998: Karin Ekström, Nikhilesh Dholakia. 1999: Benoît Heilbrunn. 2000: Emilio Roger Ciurana; 2001: A. Fuat Firat, Romain Laufer, Raoul Motta, Rachid Amirou, Florentina Moreno Pelae, Evert Gummesson; 2002: Romain Laufer, Lisa Peñaloza ; 2003: Daniele Dalli; A. Fuat Firat, Romain Laufer; Christiane Peyron-Bonjan & Edgar Morin; 2004: Daniele Dalli; Nikhilesh Dholakia ; 2005: A. Fuat Firat, Romain Laufer; 2006: A. Fuat Firat; 2007: ; 2008:; 2009: Romain Laufer, Anne-Flore Maman; 2010: Sidney Levy; 2011: Nikhilesh Dholakia, Max Chauvin, Peter Murphy; 2012: Max Chauvin, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Peter Murphy; 2013 Alan Bradshaw, Nikhilesh Dholakia