Markets are arenas of social interaction for the exchange of products and services that are embedded in specific networks, cultures, and political relations. The study of how new markets come into being is a lively area of scholarly debate, and the purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the dynamics of these early moments of market formation. These nascent markets are characterized by the lack of shared meanings and settled rules around their participants, processes, and infrastructure. I approach them with arguments from economic sociology and from theories of organizations and institutions. The empirical context is a longitudinal study of the UK social investment market from 2000 to 2015, a field that intersects the social, financial, and public sectors. Social investment refers to the combination of financial returns and social impact, but the contest over its meaning and practice is itself a part of this analysis. The core data collection is based on interviews, reports, field events, and online sources, which provide an empirical basis to understand the social, cultural, and political processes that are shaping this market. I build on different traditions in the sociology of markets to explore changes over time in the rules, identities, practices, and dominant actors during the early moments of the UK social investment market. My first main finding is that the initial period of uncontested ambiguity is followed by efforts from mainstream organizations to reduce that ambiguity by reshaping rules and practices. This then results in a period of collaborative contestation, where peripheral actors challenge the core features of the field and hinder the path to stability. The second finding is about the role played by intermediary organizations in nascent markets, which consists of building the market infrastructure by connecting actors, developing a language, and establishing rules and practices. These findings point to the importance of theorizing about ambiguity in the early moments of markets. I contribute to this endeavor by specifying some of its features and dynamics, and by emphasizing the centrality of intermediation. I also further our understanding of those markets that span across the worlds of business, policy, and civil society.

Cette thèse porte sur le marché dit « volontaire » des services de compensation carbone. Sur ce marché, des entreprises, qui n’ont aucune obligation de souscrire à ces services, achètent à des opérateurs privés, ONG ou entreprises, des « crédits carbone » pour « compenser » leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES). Pour obtenir ces crédits carbone, les opérateurs du marché mettent en œuvre des projets de réduction des émissions de GES dans les pays du Sud. Ces nouveaux échanges marchands du début des années 2000 ne sont pas sans susciter de critiques. Journalistes, ONG environnementales et scientifiques considèrent que ce marché, d’une part, ne permet pas de réduire efficacement les émissions de GES et, d’autre part, que les populations du Sud encourent de potentiels dangers avec la mise en œuvre de tels projets. La thèse interroge ainsi l’apparent paradoxe du choix des entreprises d’investir dans des services environnementaux contestés alors que ces derniers ne constituent pas une obligation réglementaire et peuvent mettre en danger leur réputation. En considérant le marché « volontaire » comme un « marché contesté », selon le sens donné à cette notion par Steiner et Trespeuch (2014), la thèse rend compte des conditions d’existence et de maintien de ce marché. A partir d’entretiens, d’observations et de l’analyse de sources écrites, elle examine le rôle de divers dispositifs, du travail marchand ainsi que de l’appropriation de l’offre par les acheteurs dans l’organisation de ce marché. La thèse interroge plus généralement le rapport entre économie et environnement et s’intéresse aux ressorts de l’engagement « volontaire » des entreprises pour le climat. / This dissertation deals with the so-called “voluntary” carbon offset market. In this market, companies, which have no obligation to subscribe to these services, purchase “carbon credits” to “offset” their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from private operators (NGOs or businesses). To obtain carbon credits, operators implement GHG emission reduction projects in Southern countries. These new trade exchanges, which date from the early 2000s, provoke critics. Journalists, environmental NGOs and scientists believe that this market on the one hand does not effectively reduce GHG emissions to fight against climate change, and on the other hand that people in the South face potential dangers linked to the implementation of carbon offsetting projects. The dissertation thus questions the apparent paradox of the choice of companies to invest in contested environmental services when they are not a regulatory obligation and may endanger their reputation. By considering the “voluntary” market as a “contested market”, according to the meaning given to this notion by Steiner and Trespeuch (2014), the dissertation explores the conditions of existence and maintenance of this market. Through interviews, observations and written sources, our research analyzes the role of various market devices, but also commercial work as well as the appropriation of the offer by buyers in organizing this market. In doing so, it questions more generally the relationship between economy and the environment and is interested in the determinant factors of the “voluntary” commitment of companies for the fight against global warming.

Qu’elle soit présentée comme un outil privilégié de gestion des ressources humaines ou comme une solution aux dysfonctionnements du marché du travail, la mobilité résidentielle des salariés est au cœur d’un faisceau d’injonctions qui ignorent les conceptions de l’habiter fondées sur la stabilité et l’ancrage dans les lieux. Cette thèse propose d’étudier la façon dont les individus articulent leurs mobilités résidentielles et professionnelles en croisant des dispositifs d’enquête quantitative et qualitative. Les mobilités résidentielles en France ne sont pas plus fréquentes qu’à la fin des années 1960, et elles coïncident autant avec des mobilités professionnelles ascendantes que descendantes. Se pose alors la question des logiques sociales d’émergence et de résolution de la mobilité résidentielle. La mobilité des salariés est un dispositif de gestion des ressources humaines qu’il faut confronter aux logiques sociales de l’ancrage dans les territoires. Les mobiles doivent faire une difficile « entrée en territoire » dont on a étudié la résolution en observant le travail d’intermédiation d’acteurs marchands, les sociétés de « relocation ». Un marché de l’accompagnement à la mobilité émerge difficilement, et sa dynamique concurrentielle atypique impacte la conciliation de la vie privée et de la vie professionnelle des salariés. / Be it a human resources management device or a solution to labor market dysfunctions, employee residential mobility is the focus of a range of injunctions that ignore dwelling conceptions based on stability and mooring in places. This thesis aims to study the way individuals articulate their residential and professional mobilities by crossing quantitative and qualitative research. Residential mobilities in France are not higher now than in the 1960’s, and are coincident with upward as well as downward social mobilities. The issue is raised to study the social logics of the triggering and the resolving of mobility. Relocation is a human resources management device that has to be confronted to the social logics of territorial moorings. Relocated employees have to “enter territories”. This “entering” has be studied through the market intermediation activity of relocation service providers. A relocation market slowly emerges, and its atypical competition dynamics has a strong influence on how employees conciliate private life and work life