La présente thèse avait pour mandat d’examiner la question suivante : quels sont les indices visuels utilisés pour catégoriser le sexe d’un visage et comment sont-ils traités par le cerveau humain? La plupart des études examinant l’importance de certaines régions faciales pour la catégorisation du sexe des visages présentaient des limites quant à leur validité externe. L’article 1 visait à investiguer l’utilisation des indices achromatiques et chromatiques (sur l’axe xy) dans un contexte de plus grande validité externe. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé la technique Bubbles afin d’échantillonner l’espace xy de visages en couleurs n’ayant subi aucune transformation. Afin d’éviter les problèmes liés à la grande répétition des mêmes visages, nous avons utilisé un grand nombre de visages (c.-à-d. 300 visages caucasiens d’hommes et de femmes) et chaque visage n’a été présenté qu’une seule fois à chacun des 30 participants. Les résultats indiquent que la région des yeux et des sourcils—probablement dans le canal blanc-noir—est l’indice le plus important pour discriminer correctement le genre des visages; et que la région de la bouche—probablement dans le canal rouge-vert—est l’indice le plus important pour discriminer rapidement et correctement le genre des visages. Plusieurs études suggèrent qu’un indice facial que nous n’avons pas étudié dans l’article 1—les distances interattributs—est crucial à la catégorisation du sexe. L’étude de Taschereau et al. (2010) présente toutefois des données allant à l’encontre de cette hypothèse : les performances d’identification des visages étaient beaucoup plus faibles lorsque seules les distances interattributs réalistes étaient disponibles que lorsque toutes les autres informations faciales à l’exception des distances interattributs réalistes étaient disponibles. Quoi qu’il en soit, il est possible que la faible performance observée dans la condition où seules les distances interattributs étaient disponibles soit explicable non par une incapacité d’utiliser ces indices efficacement, mais plutôt par le peu d’information contenue dans ces indices. L’article 2 avait donc comme objectif principal d’évaluer l’efficacité—une mesure de performance qui compense pour la faiblesse de l’information disponible—des distances interattributs réalistes pour la catégorisation du sexe des visages chez 60 participants. Afin de maximiser la validité externe, les distances interattributs manipulées respectaient la distribution et la matrice de covariance observées dans un large échantillon de visages (N=515). Les résultats indiquent que les efficacités associées aux visages ne possédant que de l’information au niveau des distances interattributs sont un ordre de magnitude plus faibles que celles associées aux visages possédant toute l’information que possèdent normalement les visages sauf les distances interattributs et donnent le coup de grâce à l’hypothèse selon laquelle les distances interattributs seraient cuciale à la discrimination du sexe des visages. L’article 3 avait pour objectif principal de tester l’hypothèse formulée à la fin de l’article 1 suivant laquelle l’information chromatique dans la région de la bouche serait extraite très rapidement par le système visuel lors de la discrimination du sexe. Cent douze participants ont chacun complété 900 essais d’une tâche de discrimination du genre pendant laquelle l’information achromatique et chromatique des visages était échantillonnée spatiotemporellement avec la technique Bubbles. Les résultats d’une analyse présentée en Discussion seulement confirme l’utilisation rapide de l’information chromatique dans la région de la bouche. De plus, l’utilisation d’un échantillonnage spatiotemporel nous a permis de faire des analyses temps-fréquences desquelles a découlé une découverte intéressante quant aux mécanismes d’encodage des informations spatiales dans le temps. Il semblerait que l’information achromatique et chromatique à l’intérieur d’une même région faciale est échantillonnée à la même fréquence par le cerveau alors que les différentes parties du visage sont échantillonnées à des fréquences différentes (entre 6 et 10 Hz). Ce code fréquentiel est compatible avec certaines évidences électrophysiologiques récentes qui suggèrent que les parties de visages sont « multiplexées » par la fréquence d’oscillations transitoires synchronisées dans le cerveau. / In this thesis, we asked which face cues are used for gender discrimination and how they are processed by the humain brain. The few studies have tried to answer this question used only a small set of grayscale stimuli, often distorted and presented a large number of times. In Article 1, we reassessed the importance of chromatic and achromatic facial cues for gender categorisation in a more realistic setting. We used the Bubbles technique to sample the xy plane of a set of 300 color photographs of Caucasian faces, each presented only once to 30 participants. Results show that the region of the eyes and the eyebrows—probably in the light-dark channel—is the most important facial cue for accurate gender discrimination; and that the mouth region is also driving fast correct responses (but not fast incorrect responses)—the gender discrimination information in the mouth region is concentrated in the red-green color channel. Several studies suggest that a cue which we did not examine in Article 1—interattribute distances (e.g. the interpupil distance)—is critical for gender discrimination. A recent study by Taschereau-Dumouchel et al. (2010) challenged this idea by showing that participants were nearly at chance when asked to identify faces on the sole basis of real-word interattribute distances, while they were nearly perfect when all other facial cues were shown. However, it remains possible that humans are highly tuned to interattribute distances but that the information conveyed by these cues is scarce. In Article 2, we tested this hypothesis by contrasting the efficiencies—a measure of performance that factors out task difficulty—of 60 observers in six face-gender categorization tasks. Most importantly, efficiencies for faces that varied only in terms of their interattribute distances were an order of magnitude lower than efficiencies for faces that varied in all respects except their interattribute distances or in all respects. These results provide a definitive blow to the idea that real-world interattribute distances are critical for face gender categorization. In Article 3, we tested and confirmed the hypothesis formulated at the end of Article 1 according to which observers would rapidly extract chromatic information in the mouth region during sex categorization. One hundred and twelve participants each performed 900 trials of a face gender categorization task in which the achromatic and isoluminant chromatic content of faces were partially revealed in space and time with Bubbles. This experiment also allowed us to perform time-frequency analyses, which showed that achromatic and isoluminant chromatic information within the same facial part were sampled by the brain at the same frequency, whereas different facial parts were sampled at distinct frequencies (ranging from 6 to 10 Hz). This sampling code is consistent with recent electrophysiological evidence suggesting that facial features are multiplexed by the frequency of transient synchronized oscillations in the brain.

The aim of this diploma thesis is a qualitative analysis of a media dialogical network's extract regarding chemical attack in Syria on 21st August 2013. In spite of the fact that main social participant in the subsequent international conflict, representatives of United States of America and Syria, president Obama, Secretary of State Kerry on one side and president Assad on the other side, have never actually met face to face, mass media interconnected their reactions into a coherent dialogue between west and east civilization and they accepted it as a part of intercultural negotiation of different meanings and interpretations of reality within a global mass media discourse. Methodological apparatus of conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis provides a tool to observe sequential and categorization aspects of a dynamic intertextual process of specification and respecification of the core cultural and political values in context. Thanks to the term structured immediacy it was also possible to consider sequential ordering of antecendents of the event in historical continuum. This analysis is based on ethnomethodological research of social interaction in mass media and is inspired by articles of J. Nekvapil und I. Leudar, which were dedicated to the analysis of intercultural...

This diploma thesis deals with a crystallization of the political affair in Czech Social Democratic Party concerning lying of the politician M. Hašek and his colleagues about their meeting with the president after parliamentary election in autumn 2013. The qualitative analysis of mass media texts is based on the term media dialogical network, which was developed by J. Nekvapil and I. Leudar. In their latest publications they combined it with the apparatus of membership categorization analysis and the term structured immediacy. The membership categorization analysis enables me to take into consideration besides sequential aspects of social interaction also participants' categorization practices and thank to the term structured immediacy I could focus on how participants treat historical meanings in their statements. The second important aim of this thesis is to innovate the term media dialogical network as a viable approach to the intertextuality analysis of mass media communication in the new media environment. The fact, that the call for resignation of party's leader was linked to the secret meeting with the president after the election, resulted in the interpretation of the event as a coup against party's leader B. Sobotka. The politicians accused of coup organization defended themselves against...

The diploma thesis explores the four seasons from the view point of the linguistic picture of the world theory. The etholinguistic approach is applied in the thesis - attention is paid to the Czech-specific perception of reality especially focused on the weather and the changes of the nature in the course of the four seasons. Human perception of the change is based upon the senses - the sense of hearing, the sense of smell, and touch and the eyesight. Each season is unique. The seasons can be differentiated by their season specific stereotypes, season prototypes, and connotations. On the linguistic pictures of each season collocations are built, from which new lexical items originate, describing the season as such. Due to anthropocentrism we perceive individual astronomical and meteorological issues as personified items to which we ascribe human behaviour and human qualities. The motto of the thesis says: "I will not do the spring sowing next year. " The motto denotes the interaction of two conceptual schemata (the scheme of a cycle and the scheme of a journey) realizing the fact that the natural cycle corresponds in our mental representation with the phases of human life. The difference between the concepts is that man always reaches the terminal point of his journey unlike the nature constantly...

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Cette recherche a pour objet la compréhension des énoncés de problèmes arithmétiques complexes et leur résolution. Les problèmes complexes choisis combinent des problèmes simples de types Changement et Combinaison. Ce travail s’appuie sur le modèle de la Construction-Intégration de Kintsch. Les résultats montrent qu’il existe une relation entre le niveau d’expertise en compréhension de textes narratifs et la résolution des problèmes arithmétiques complexes. Comprendre un texte narratif ou un énoncé de problème complexe exige de la part des lecteurs la construction d’un réseau propositionnel hiérarchisé et les résultats suggèrent, entre autres, une sensibilité des élèves aux propositions textuelles et aux ellipses contenues dans les textes. La formation des macropropositions est un processus fondamental et les résultats montrent une relation entre le nombre d’objets contenus dans les énoncés de problème et la procédure préférentiellement choisie par les élèves. Ils suggèrent d’une part, la mise en oeuvre du processus de catégorisation au cours du processus de compréhension et d’autre part, l’affaiblissement des liaisons entre les macropropositions élaborées et le schéma de problème Parties-Tout qui leur sont liés. D’un point de vue pédagogique, les résultats montrent que les questions relatives à l’activation d’une part des concepts superordonnés et d’autre part des schémas de problèmes Parties-Tout ne sont pas à privilégier pour aider les élèves. Finalement, les connaissances du lecteur sont essentielles à la compréhension. Cet élément est confirmé ici et la compréhension des problèmes complexes nécessite des connaissances solides relativement aux problèmes arithmétiques simples. / This research deals with text comprehension processes and complex arithmetic word problems resolution by 9-10 years old children in Reunion Island based upon the CI model of Kintsch. The complex word arithmetic problems used in this research are a combination of Change simple problems and Combine simple problems. The results show a relation between subject’s level of expertise in narrative texts comprehension and complex arithmetic word problems resolution. In order to understand a narrative text or to resolve a complex arithmetic word problem, subjects have to elaborate a coherent hierarchical propositional network : bridging inferences and macropropositions are involved to achieve complex arithmetic word problems resolution too. More precisely, the results suggest children are sensitive to the number of propositions and to the ellipsises. Macropropositions formation is an integral process of reading. The results show a relation between number of objects in complex arithmetic problems and procedure naturally used by children to solve them. They suggest on the one hand, categorization processes are an integral part of reading and on the other hand, some links between macropropositions and arithmetic hypothesis become weaker. Consequently, questions about superordinate concepts and arithmetic hypothesis attached to them are not helpul to resolve complex arithmetic word problems. Finally, reader’s knowlegde is a key element of comprehension processes and to achieve complex arithmetic word problems, problem schemata about simple arithmetic word problems are crucial. The results show a relation between subject’s level of expertise in simple arithmetic word problems and complex arithmetic word problems resolution.

Syftet med det här arbetet är att tydliggöra vad svenska fotbollsagenter gör samt redogöra hur legitimitet skapas i en bransch som kantas av kriminalitet och bristfällig transparens. Kvalitativa intervjuer har använts för att besvara de två forskningsfrågorna som lyder: Vad gör fotbollsagenter i Sverige och vad erbjuder de fotbollsspelare och fotbollsklubbar för tjänster? Samt, hur konstruerar fotbollsagenter legitimitet i en bransch med dåligt rykte? Respondenterna till studien är tagna från tre olika yrkesgrupper: tre fotbollsspelare, tre fotbollsagenter och tre sportchefer. Resultatet visar att fotbollsagenter i Sverige primärt jobbar med kontraktsförhandlingar, kontaktskapande, scouting och karriärrådgivning. Några agenter erbjöd även spelare möjligheten till extra träningspass, matchanalys och rehab. Utöver detta framkom det att det förekommer agenter i Sverige som arbetar med oetiska arbetsmetoder som exempelvis att muta spelare. När det kom till hur agenter konstruerar legitimitet handlar det huvudsakligen om att skapa tillit från andra aktörer i fotbollssverige. Detta görs främst genom att få externa godkännanden från andra aktörer inom fotbollen. Utöver detta handlade det om att följa den reglering som finns och hålla sig borta från allt som kan associeras med den mörkare sidan av agentbranschen. / The purpose of this thesis is to clarify what a football agent does in Sweden and describe how legitimacy is created in an industry that is associated with crime and a lack of transparency. Qualitative interviews have been used to answer the two main issues that follows: What do football agents do in Sweden and what services do they offer football players and football clubs? And how do football agents construct legitimacy in an industry with a bad reputation? The respondents were picked from three different professions: three footballers, three football agents and three sports directors. The result shows that football agents in Sweden mainly worked with contracts negotiation, professional contact creation, scouting and giving career advice. Some agents even offered their players the opportunity for extra training sessions, match analysis and rehabilitation. The result also shows that some agents in Sweden uses work methods that could be considered unethical, for example giving bribes to players. When it came to how agents constructed legitimacy, it was mainly about creating a trust between themselves and other actors in Swedish football. This was done mostly through gaining external approval from other actors in football. In addition, it was about following the regulations that exist and staying away from anything that can be associated with the shadier side of the football agent industry.

Submitted by SBI Biblioteca Digital (sbi.bibliotecadigital@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2017-10-04T13:38:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GEISA PERAL GIMENES MARTINS.pdf: 1580175 bytes, checksum: 8f822a47410e0626bff8ea2311ea33fc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-04T13:38:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GEISA PERAL GIMENES MARTINS.pdf: 1580175 bytes, checksum: 8f822a47410e0626bff8ea2311ea33fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-17 / In this dissertation we present the results of the research on the initiative of the State Department of Education of S?o Paulo that, using the results of school performance in SARESP and data of school dropout, categorized or ranked schools in the colors blue, green, yellow, orange or red, in order to understand the trajectory, the operation and the reactions triggered by this governmental initiative in the educational scenario. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, we carried out a bibliographic research and established the state of the art in the academic-scientific literature regarding the categorization or ranking of schools by color, empirical research in order to understand the operation, implementation and extinction of this initiative in the light of perceptions of the school directors and regional directorates of education managers and, finally, documentary research, to study the repercussion of the implementation from the news reports published in the mainstream press, in the trade union press and in data on legal proceedings instituted against the Education of the State of S?o Paulo. The research pointed out that in the academic-scientific literature, in the mainstream press and in the legal media, there is a tendency to value the awards received by schools that obtained high performance in SARESP, with predominantly negative-biased speeches on schools ranking by color, focusing on the resistance of the teachers' union and teachers' dissatisfaction with the neoliberal logic that would be present in the government policies of the PSDB, with a reduced emphasis on positive aspects related to the actions of the State Department of Education. School principals and regional directories of education managers pointed out several positive points related to the categorization or ranking of schools by color, such as the motivation of the school teams that wanted to improve their results, the reflection of the pedagogical practice regarding the results obtained, the secretariat's investments in training courses, funds for underperforming schools, the simplicity of the quality indicator, and the fact that the results of ranking schools took teachers out of a comfort zone. However, the negative points, such as the stigmatization of poor-performing school-based school teams, motivated parents to transfer their children to better-performing schools, as well as the lack of clarity regarding the criteria used in schools ranking, accentuated the dissatisfaction and discomfort of many teachers with the actions that subsidized the categorization or ranking of color schools and raised the level of tension between teachers and the state secretariat of education, pressing the state government to extinguish the initiative in 2002, soon after its implementation. / Por meio da presente disserta??o apresentamos os resultados da pesquisa sobre a iniciativa da Secretaria de Educa??o do Estado de S?o Paulo que, utilizando-se dos resultados do desempenho escolar no SARESP e dados da evas?o escolar, categorizava ou classificava as escolas nas cores azul, verde, amarelo, laranja ou vermelho, com vistas a compreender a trajet?ria, o funcionamento e as rea??es desencadeadas por essa iniciativa governamental no cen?rio educacional. Para atingir os objetivos propostos, realizamos pesquisa bibliogr?fica e estabelecemos o estado da quest?o na literatura acad?mico-cient?fica referente a categoriza??o ou classifica??o das escolas por cores, pesquisa emp?rica com vistas a compreender o funcionamento, a implementa??o e a extin??o dessa iniciativa ? luz das percep??es dos diretores de escola e de gestores das diretorias regionais de ensino e, por fim, pesquisa documental, para estudar a repercuss?o da implementa??o a partir das not?cias veiculadas na grande imprensa, na imprensa sindical e em informa??es constantes de processos judiciais instaurados contra a Secretaria de Educa??o do Estado de S?o Paulo. A pesquisa apontou que na literatura acad?mico-cient?fica, na grande imprensa e nos meios legais h? uma tend?ncia de se valorizar as premia??es recebidas pelas escolas que obtiveram alto desempenho no SARESP, com predomin?ncia de discursos com vi?s negativo sobre a classifica??o das escolas por cores, focados na resist?ncia do sindicato dos professores e na insatisfa??o de professores com a l?gica neoliberal que estaria presente nas pol?ticas governamentais do PSDB, havendo reduzida ?nfase em aspectos positivos relacionados ?s a??es da secretaria estadual de educa??o. Os diretores de escola e gestores das diretorias regionais de ensino apontaram diversos pontos positivos relacionados ? categoriza??o ou classifica??o das escolas por cores, como por exemplo, a motiva??o das equipes escolares que desejavam melhorar seus resultados, a reflex?o da pr?tica pedag?gica diante dos resultados obtidos, os investimentos da secretaria em cursos de capacita??o, as verbas para as escolas com baixo desempenho, a simplicidade do indicador de qualidade e o fato de que os resultados da classifica??o das escolas tiraram os professores de uma zona de conforto. Entretanto, os pontos negativos, como por exemplo a estigmatiza??o das equipes escolares com o r?tulo de ruins que as escolas de baixo desempenho ficaram motivavam pais a transferir seus filhos para escolas com melhor desempenho, e, ainda, a falta de clareza quanto aos crit?rios utilizados na classifica??o das escolas, acentuaram a insatisfa??o e o desconforto de muitos professores com as a??es que subsidiavam a categoriza??o ou classifica??o das escolas por cores e elevaram o n?vel de tens?o entre os professores e a secretaria estadual de educa??o, pressionando o governo estadual a extinguir a iniciativa no ano de 2002, logo ap?s a sua implementa??o.

La question générale de cette recherche porte sur l’identification et l’analyse de la diversité des usages de systèmes techniques complexes, les Véhicule Utilitaires Légers (VUL), réalisés par un groupe hétérogène d’utilisateurs professionnels pour contribuer à une typologie des usages. Cette dernière est destinée à servir de ressource informationnelle pour les acteurs de la conception de ces véhicules. Ce travail s’articule autour de deux orientations.■ La première orientation vise l’analyse de la diversité des usages afin d’en faire ressortir des critères structurant. Pour cela, nous proposons une unité d’analyse transverse à l’ensemble des activités : les « usages situés d’un système multi-instrumenté (SMI) ». Nous les définissons comme l’ensemble des actions de l’utilisateur dirigées vers un but et servant une activité générale et située, impliquant tout ou une partie du SMI en tant que médiateur ou objet de l’activité. Un SMI représente le sous-système d’instruments construit par l’utilisateur à partir d’un système technique complexe.Les analyses s’appuient sur deux séries d’observations (exploratoires et systématiques outillées) auprès d’une diversité d’utilisateurs. Les résultats montrent qu’il existe des dimensions plus larges que les différents pôles de l’activité instrumentée influençant la réalisation des usages. En effet, l’utilisateur entretient des interrelations complexes avec les ressources de son action ; les caractéristiques de l’activité générale que les usages permettent et les caractéristiques de la situation au sein de laquelle ils sont réalisés. Il existe ainsi différents types d’usages en fonction de la place du SMI au sein de l’usage et de l’objet de l’usage.■ La seconde orientation poursuit un travail de réduction de la diversité des usages dans une perspective de catégorisation. Créer une catégorisation induit la définition d’une unité d’analyse qui sous-tend la construction des catégories et les variables permettant leur discrimination. Pour cela, nous proposons de mobiliser une seconde unité d’analyse, les « classes de situations d’usages d’un SMI », permettant de monter en généralisation à travers l’identification de variables structurant les usages.Mais la simple construction d’une catégorisation n’est pas suffisante au regard des caractéristiques des processus de conception de l’entreprise et des différents besoins informationnels de ses acteurs. Nous proposons donc un premier travail de compréhension de ces processus, des tâches des différents acteurs qui y contribuent et de leurs besoins informationnels associés en termes d’usages des utilisateurs finaux. Pour cela, une série d’entretiens semi-directifs a été menée auprès d’acteurs de la conception : 1) dont certaines tâches impliquent la prise en compte des usages des VUL ; 2) réalisant des activités distinctes à différentes périodes et/ou processus de conception. Les résultats offrent des lignes directrices pour contribuer à l’évolution de la typologie des usages.Ces différents travaux permettent de proposer différentes pistes de développement de la typologie des usages existante dans l’entreprise. Celles-ci couvrent deux dimensions : 1) les données fournies par la typologie et leur mode de présentation ; 2) la méthode de mise à jour de ces données. / The main purpose of this research is based on identifying and analysing the usages diversity of complex technical systems, Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), carried out by heterogeneous professional users so as to contribute to a typology of usages. The aim of the typology is to serve as an informational resource for the actors of the design process. This work revolves around two directions. ■ The first direction focuses on the analysis of the usages diversity so as to be able to put to the fore the structuring criteria. To this end, we propose a transversal analysis unit to all the activities: “the situated usages of a multi instrumented system (MIS)”. We define them as all the user’s actions directed towards a specific goal that performs a general and situated activity, and involves all or part of the MIS as a mediator or object of the activity. The MIS represents the sub-instrumental system built from a complex technical system by the user. The analyses are based on two sets of observations (exploratory and systematic ones) among a variety of users. The results show that there are wider dimensions to the several poles of the instrumented activity influencing the realization of the usages. Indeed, the user is having complex interrelations with the resources of his action and with the characteristics of the global activity allowed by the usages and the characteristics of the situation under which they are produced. Therefore there are different types of usages depending on the SMI position within the usage and the object of the usage.■ The second direction aims at a reduction of the usages diversity purpose so as to achieve of categorization. Creating a categorization implies the need to define an analysis unit that underlies the construction of categories and variables allowing their discrimination. To this end, we propose to highlight a second analysis unit, “the usages situations’ classes of a SMI”, to enable further generalization through variables that structure the usages.But the sole conception of a categorization is not sufficient enough compared to the company’s design characteristics and to the various informative needs of its actors. As a consequence we propose a first task to apprehend the understanding of the processes involved as well as the different agents’ assignments which contribute to this understanding and to the informational needs in terms of final users’ usages they may require. In order to do so, a series of semi structured interviews were held with those involved in design: 1) some tasks imply the necessity to take into account LCV usages; 2) the performing of distinct activities at various set times and/or design processes. The results offer guidelines to contribute to the evolution of the typology of usages.These various works conducted enable us to propose different ways of developing the existing typology of usages in the company. They cover two dimensions: 1) the data provided by typology itself and one’s way to present it; 2) the methodology used to update the data.

Au cours des années 2010, les « classes moyennes africaines » sont progressivement devenues une référence catégorielle des sphères économiques et politiques internationales. La catégorie, associée systématiquement à des corrélations positives non validées de développement économique et politique, fait l'objet de divers travaux d'identification et de typification de la part d'acteurs extérieurs (organisations internationales de développement, cabinets de conseil en investissement, etc.). Si ces derniers n'hésitent pas à affirmer l'émergence de « classes moyennes africaines », nous ne pouvons que souligner le caractère incantatoire de telles affirmations, qui relèvent plus d'un « jeu de fabricants » visant à dessiner un monde en « émergence » que de validations empiriques probantes.Ce travail de thèse se base sur un pari : user d’une affectation catégorielle particulièrement incertaine « classes moyennes africaines » afin d’élaborer une méthodologie permettant d’identifier des mutations sociales structurelles sous-jacentes en Éthiopie. Par une étude empirique de l'espace social intermédiaire d'Addis-Abeba, il s'agit de soumettre ces mutations à analyse pour en comprendre les fondements, les formes et processus de constitution et les impacts potentiels sur la société et le politique du pays / Since the year 2010, the term “African Middle Classes” has increasingly become a categorical reference in the international economic and political arena. This category, which has systematically been associated with a positive but unverified correlation of economic and political development, represents the object of diverse identification and typification projects by external actors (such as international development organizations, investment consultancy firms etc.). While the latter do not hesitate to affirm the emergence of the phenomenon of “African Middle Classes”, we cannot but underline the incantatory character of these affirmations. The emergence is more linked to a “producers’ game”, inclined to sketch out an « emerging world », than to empirical evidence.This doctoral research is based on the challenging task of using the particularly elusive and projected category of the « African Middle Classes » to develop a methodology that helps to identify the structural social changes that are shaping Ethiopia nowadays. Grounded in an empirical case study of the intermediate social space in Addis Ababa, this work aims to analyse the foundations, forms and construction processes, as well as the potential impact that these changes have on the Ethiopian society and the political system