Cette thèse interroge les processus de communication qui autorisent la construction du microcrédit - pratique de prêts à des personnes pauvres - comme cause internationale. Un réseau d’acteurs nommé « Campagne du Sommet du Microcrédit » milite activement pour sa reconnaissance en tant qu’outil de lutte contre la pauvreté. L’étude de ses pratiques et des formes de son discours éclaire les conditions de possibilité logistique et symbolique de la conversion d’une technique financière en cause louable, endossable et universalisable.L’approche communicationnelle de cet objet se formule au croisement de deux axes théoriques qui forment les deux niveaux d’analyse d’un matériau composite - documentaire et ethnographique.Le premier axe concerne la démarche stratégique d’« entrepreneurs de cause » qui défendent une thématique et en accompagnent la trajectoire publique. Il questionne les conditions de la visibilité de la cause et met, ainsi, en évidence les contraintes d’une exigence de visibilité et les normes d’action et de justification qu’elle impose aux acteurs.Le second axe s’attache aux médiations symboliques - formes intercalaires, rémanentes et circulantes - qui incarnent la cause en-Deçà et au-Delà des déclarations d’intention. Il interroge, alors, sa lisibilité en élucidant les régimes de construction de deux figures nécessaires et complémentaires - le micro et le macroentrepreneur - et leurs effets de sens paradoxaux.La thèse confronte donc les « arrière-Pensées » des formes aux intentions stratégiques des acteurs qui les mobilisent et éclaire ainsi la mécanique d’inscription d’une perspective contemporaine du traitement de la pauvreté dans son « ordre de discours ». / Microcredit is a widespread financial tool, originally designed to lend small amounts of money to very poor people.This thesis questions the communication processes that enabled its construction as an international cause. Microcredit Summit Campaign is a network of organizations that strongly advocates for the acknowledgement of microcredit as a tool to fight poverty . The study of its practices and the forms of its discourse highlights the logistic and symbolic conditions required for the conversion of a financial theory into a praiseworthy, endorsable and universal cause.Drawing on a discourse and semiotic analysis of documented and ethnographical sources, the communicational approach of this topic links together two theoretical perspectives.On the one hand, it focuses on Microcredit Summit Campaign as a social movement organization and discusses the symbolic constraints imposed by a requirement for visibility in the public sphere. It influences their eligibility as spokeperson, their standards of action and their modes of justification.On the other hand, the thesis questions the legibility of microcredit as a cause. In this perspective, it analyzes the symbolic mediations that allow it to be embodied. To support the analysis, two compatible actors – “microentrepreneur” and “macroentrepreneur” - are strategically used in the discourse. The study of their characteristics reveals a paradoxical symbolic meaning and effect.Thus, the thesis confronts the "ulterior motives" of the semiotic forms used to support the discourse with the strategic intentions. In doing so, it sheds light on how a contemporary perspective on treating poverty is symbolically integrated in its " orders of discourse ".

In course of time the role of the individual being has become increasingly important in the fight against poverty. Through its microcredit programmes, the organization Grameen Bank offers “aid to self-help” to poor women on the countryside in Bangladesh. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how participation in Grameen’s microcredit programmes can affect these women’s social situation and working situation. In order to achieve the purpose the following questions have been formulated: How does microcredit affect women’s self-esteem, influence in the household, and exposure to domestic violence? How does microcredit affect women’s occupational situation, to what extent do they have control over their loans, and how is microcredit regarded in comparison with permanent jobs, as a way to reduce poverty? The research, which has been carried out as a qualitative text analysis, shows that Grameen plays an important role when it comes to improving women’s living conditions. The access to microcredit helps women increasing their working activity as well as their self-esteem and influence in the household. However, microcredit does not merely create positive consequences. There are cases where microcredit increases the risk of domestic violence. Often the loans are transferred within the household, and then controlled by men. In addition, women’s use of microcredit is still confined to activities traditionally performed by women. These factors are important to consider when evaluating Grameen’s programmes, since they counteract Grameen’s vision of creating development for women.