Abstract EN:

This doctoral thesis addresses the organizational realities and the various actors involved in the social field of leisure and culture. It seaks to determine the participational behaviour of the individuals in the associations of that sector, and the local integration of those groups ruled by the law of July 1st, 1901. The relevant concepts, the historical development, the nature of leisure, the activities proposed, the public, associations and federations concerned, national and local public administration and the recreational professionals all constitute the elements which form the framework of it. A selection of political strategies, almost excluively those of town administrations, are proposed here, based on the experiences of the following towns : d’Amiens, Annecy, Bastia, Le mans, Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes, Tours et plus précisément celui d’Angers. Professionals, increasingly powerful in these associations -which are becoming more independent on the newly decentralized administrations- have joined the volunteers. Whatever the political tendencies and discourse, those organizations evolve in similar contexts under the influence of the town administrations which are more conscious of their economic and political power and of the local issues brought up by those activities. These associations make a strict rule of justifying their efficiency by using a phraseology that is new in the field of social work -including concepts specific to the commercial sector- in order to give credibility to consensually determined and subsequently assessed activities. This research is not aimed at legitimizing this field of activity, the role of the people directly involved and the action of the numerous organizations. It tries to raise the degree of scientific knowledge, on the basis of a sociological methodology allowing the recognition of a process towards the reassessment of an institution which favours participation, and of its role in French society.