Political and moral sociology has gradually developed as a research programme—in the sense proposed by Imre Lakatos—around a conceptual nucleus looking to construct a theory of action based on Émile Durkheim's theory of moral fact, revising the inheritance of ‘methodological structuralism’ from the point of view of dynamics and processes.
[7] A book co-authored with Laurent Thévenot, On Justification: Economies of Worth, 2006 (French original: 1991), presents a comprehensive framework for understanding how people justify their actions and critique others in modern societies.
Modeled on familial structures, this world prioritizes loyalty, obedience, and respect for authority (illustrated by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet's Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture).
As described by Adam Smith, this world operates on principles of supply and demand, valuing individuals based on their ability to compete and accumulate wealth.
This world, represented by Henri de Saint-Simon, emphasizes standardized processes and the optimization of systems for maximum output.
In such cases, if the agents are oriented toward a notion of the common good, an (albeit fragile) compromise may evolve to settle the dispute.
The book combines theoretical analysis with empirical observation, drawing on a wide range of sources including management handbooks, union manuals, and classical texts in political philosophy.
The framework developed in On Justification has broad implications for understanding social coordination, conflict resolution, and the plurality of value systems in modern societies.
By ‘enrichment economy’, Boltanski and Esquerre (2014, 2016) designate a development of capitalism based on tourism, luxury, art and heritage.