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Musical semiotics begins from the premise that music is a signifying phenomenon. However, the field itself has developed according to two distinct paths. The first one starts by considering music and its history. In the study of classical music, for instance, it will begin by considering rhetoric and affect during the Baroque period and then move to consider the topics of the Classical style or the interartistic aspects of Romanticism. The other path consists instead of applying general semiotic theories to music. A more proper approach, I believe, lies somewhere in the middle : it ought to configure general semiotic concepts to the special or historical problems of music. In this essay I give examples from my own work borrowing methodology from the Paris School of Semiotics developed by Greimas and from my own Existential Semiotics model.

Keywords: Music, Musical Signification, Modalities, Rhetorics, Topics, Paris School, Existential Semiotics, Music History, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, Musical Dialogue, Musique, signification musicale, modalités, rhétorique, topique, École de Paris, sémiotique existentielle, histoire de la musique, Baroque, Classicisme, Romantisme, dialogue musical

This paper aims to describe how principals of vocational training centers-VTC evaluate vocational education training-VET programs in place since 2003 in Quebec and compare this evaluation with the skills required and expected of those principals. An electronic survey was sent to all Quebec vocational training centers-VTC principals. Respondents, who have rather limited knowledge of available vocational education training-VET programs, confirm the quality and the relevance of the program and question it duration. In addition, a ranking of their selection criteria for hiring new teachers merits a more in-depth analysis. The comparison of these results with the skills required for managing an educational institution leads to the conclusion that a better understanding of the foundations of vocational education training-VET programs by the vocational training centers-VTC principals is needed.

Keywords: direction d'établissement d'enseignement, enseignement professionnel, compétences professionnelles, programme de formation à l'enseignement, transition professionnelle, school principals, vocational training, competencies, teacher training program, vocational transition, Dirección de centro de enseñanza, enseñanza profesional, competencias profesionales, programa de formación para la enseñanza, transición profesional

School principals play a major role in students' academic performance. It is therefore important to assess in new school principals which skills they have developed, and which ones need to be developed for managing their schools better. A qualitative research study with interviews was conducted among 101 education stakeholders in 10 Canadian provinces. Our results show that a larger number of new school principals from almost every province mention having developed competencies in almost every category than there are who consider having to develop these competencies for managing their school. Many more stakeholders from some provinces admit that new school principals must improve their administrative and human relations management competencies.

Keywords: nouvelle direction d'école, étude pancanadienne, formation, liste de compétences, recherche descriptive, new school principals, Canada-wide study, training, list of skills, descriptive research, Nueva dirección de escuela, estudio trans-canadiense, formación, lista de competencias, investigación descriptiva

SummaryThis study focuses on the dramatic shift in the coinage of cultural capital that is taking place. In 1950 high status was signaled by a taste for the fine arts and disdain for popular entertainments, a pattern popularly known as “highbrow snobbery.” The hegemony of highbrow snobbery was largely unexamined until Pierre Bourdieu published La Distinction : Critique social du jugement. In the past several decades researchers have tested Bourdieu's formulation in a number of countries to see its relevance beyond France in the 1960s. They show that cultural capital is increasingly seen as the ability to appreciate the distinctive aesthetic of a wide range of cultural forms including the fine arts but also a range of popular and folk expressions, a pattern called “omnivorousness.” Here we examine the causes of the emergence of omnivorousness, its social location in society and its temporal-geographic distribution across societies. We also assesses the advantages of alternative ways of measuring omnivorousness and its opposite, the many sorts of univorousness that range from isolates near the bottom of society to the highbrow snob.

SummaryThis paper discusses various conceptual ways of linking gender, leisure and tastes and offers a cross-time analysis of gender differences in the time allocated to different leisure activities in Britain. We ask whether men and women have similar leisure participation patterns over time and whether we can identify changes in the relative distribution of leisure activities between men and women. We discuss Bourdieu's theory of distinction and Simmel's trickle down theory as possible additional contributions to the understanding of differences in gender trends over time. We find some trends in participation which may be described in terms of Simmel's trickle-down theory (for example, increasing participation in sports activities among women), some which support Bourdieu's theory of distinction (for example, men's participation in electronic media) and some which cannot adequately be described by either.

Given the great uncertainty in “creative” industries, how do cultural producers make decisions ? We approach this question through a study of a particular case, the selection of models by fashion houses for their shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris. The data employed are both qualitative (ethnographic interviews) and quantitative (analysis of social networks). While the producers present the selection of models as a question of “taste,” or personal preferences, we show that their decisions are, in fact, defined by mechanisms of information-sharing in social networks, notably through “optional” mechanisms. Our data analysis reveals that cultural producers' decisional processes are a question of strategic choices based on status, even if their rhetoric refers to personal taste.

Keywords: industries de la création, mannequinat, mode, statut social, creative industries, models, modelling, fashion, social status, industrias creativas, modelaje, moda, estatus social

This article explores the social representations which public transit users and bus drivers have of users with or without disabilities, the environment and, ultimately, the territory. The analysis of rich and complex material drawn from interviews reveals what these concepts mean for participants, and also shows the way in which attitudes vary among different subgroups. These research results allow us to identify important issues related to the development of inclusive public transit in the Quebec Metropolitan Community.

Keywords: handicap, représentations sociales, transport collectif, territorialité, différences fonctionnelles, disability, social representations, public transport, territoriality, functional differences

Drawing on data from a sample of some 300 self-employed workers in Québec, gathered through an Internet-based survey, this exploratory study presents another essential dimension of the heterogeneity of self-employed workers, and of what explains the longevity of their experience. This more subjective dimension is based on the diversity of the respondents' appreciation of their experience, not only in the degree of satisfaction reported, but also in its interpretation. An analysis of the content of the answers to an open question reveals five different profiles of self-employed workers in terms of the appreciation of their experience and of whether or not they wish to continue. These specific appreciations arising out of the intrinsic advantages of self-employment are mainly related to aspirations and motivations specific to each profile.

In his discussion of the habitus of translators throughout history, Simeoni highlights the submissiveness and invisibility associated with their inferior position and with their tendency to assimilate and internalize these views of their professional activities. In keeping with recent reappraisals of this position, the present paper examines the ways in which translators of Russian literature into Hebrew, from the 1970s to now, present themselves, their work and their profession—and reflect on their habitus, their conduct in the system of Russian literature translation, and their practice. From the theories of Bourdieu and of Even-Zohar, we explore these self-representations, and find that rather than presenting themselves as invisible, passive and professionally indistinct, these translators make a point of announcing their presence as well as of emphasizing their work. While they adopt different models, they nevertheless share a repertoire and both a social and a professional habitus—one that is a prerequisite for entering the field of literary translation, and particularly the subfield of literary translation of Russian literature, and for operating successfully in these arenas. It is in this way that they achieve status in the culture, accumulate capital and construct their (distinctive) group identity. In addition, the discourse of Russian literary translators points to the dynamic nature of their system and helps push it towards the center of the polysystem of Hebrew translated literature.

Keywords: translators' self-presentations, literary translation, habitus, repertoire, models, habitus, image des traducteurs, traduction littéraire, répertoire, capital symbolique

AbstractThis article is both a study of the French-writing Spaniard Jorge Semprún's multilingual trajectory and a sociological analysis of the translational aspects of the Formentor prize, which he received in 1963 for his novel Le Grand Voyage. Created by Carlos Barral in the Majorcan peninsula of the same name and sponsored by several leading publishers (Seix-Barral, Einaudi, Gallimard, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Rowohlt), the Formentor would become one of the major publishing initiatives in 1960s Europe, leavings its mark on a decade of avant-garde writing and opening up the literary borders of Franco's Spain in the process. When awarded the Formentor, writers saw their work immediately translated in some ten languages (often by renowned translators) and distributed almost simultaneously in more than a dozen countries. A closer examination of the translational traffic generated by Semprún's Grand Voyage serves to illustrate the legitimizing force of a to this day unique initiative in the European annals of literary translation.

Keywords: sociologie de la traduction, prix littéraires, prix Formentor, Jorge Semprún, Carlos Barral, sociology of translation, literary awards, Formentor prize, Jorge Semprún, Carlos Barral