Approaching Circulations through their Actors: For a Sociology of Go-Betweens. The Case of the American Friends of French Cultural Institutions

While a number of studies on transnational philanthropy have been published, few have focused on the actors of these circulations. This is what this article sets out to do by examining the actors who make the circulation of philanthropy possible—the go-betweens—through the case of the American Frien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiens Symboliques / Symbolic Goods no. 13
Main Author Monier, Anne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Université Paris Lumières 19.12.2023
Subjects
élites
transnational
filantropía
zwischenhändler
instituciones culturales
diplomacia
institutions culturelles
eliten
philanthropie
cultural institutions
Kultureinrichtungen
diplomatie
diplomacy
transnacional
intermédiaire
intermediarios
intermediaries
elites
philanthropy
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Summary:While a number of studies on transnational philanthropy have been published, few have focused on the actors of these circulations. This is what this article sets out to do by examining the actors who make the circulation of philanthropy possible—the go-betweens—through the case of the American Friends of French cultural institutions. Drawing on a qualitative research conducted over the course of three years in France and in the United States, it takes a threefold approach to go-betweens. First, it sheds light on the characteristics of these actors, in the perspective of the sociology of the elites, as well as their roles, evidencing the conditions of possibility of their emergence. Second, it conceives go-betweens as multipositioned actors, meaning that they not only straddle two worlds but multiple worlds, which has seldom been examined in studies on circulations. The article especially shows that they perform “diplomatic intermediation” work. Lastly it considers the role of these go-betweens in the broader context of the expansion of philanthropy in France, inspired in particular by American practices, and resonating with ongoing transformations in the French public sector.
ISSN:2490-9424
2490-9424
DOI:10.4000/bssg.3859