The cooperative
About our cooperative
Engaged in a critical approach to mechanisms of domination, Éditions du Croquant publishes works by researchers in the humanities, accounts of innovative social experiments, and works by social movement collectives. They work in collaboration with the Savoir/Agir association (formerly Raisons d'agir), the Espaces Marx association, and other partners such as Attac, the Fondation Copernic, etc.
The publishing house also issues three journals: a quarterly (Savoir/Agir with the association of the same name), a semi-annual (Zilsel), as well as the journal L'intérêt général (with the Parti de Gauche).
Observing the growing concentration of the publishing world and its dependence on large financial groups, they chose to be autonomous and to guarantee this autonomy through a cooperative legal status.
A brief presentation (January 2018)
The creation of Éditions du Croquant in 2003 reflected a dual ambition. First, to guarantee the future independence of the structure as best as possible within a system dominated by large private publishers. Hence the choice of a cooperative, giving all power to shareholders on a strictly equal footing: regardless of the number of shares held, each member has one vote at the annual general meeting.
Secondly, to prioritize the quality of publications. Initially, support was drawn from sociologists gathered around the Raisons d'agir association, founded by Pierre Bourdieu and since renamed Savoir/Agir to highlight the complementarity between scientific knowledge and political action. However, with a dual red line: the desire to transgress, at least in part, the rigid boundaries between the scientific world and political action goes hand in hand with the concern to remain faithful both to the requirements of the autonomy of the scientific field and to those of political relevance and effectiveness.
The authors published in this context thus wanted to give substance to the project of building a collective intellectual as wished for by Pierre Bourdieu himself.
The first collection, predominantly sociological and strongly inspired by the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu, was naturally entitled Savoir/Agir. It later gave rise to several expansions: into the social sciences with Champ social, then, by specializing, into political science with SocioPo, into economics with Dynamiques socio-économiques, and into history with Sociologie historique.
At the same time, the concern for a denser presence in current editorial affairs, coupled with the desire to give more young researchers real opportunities to make their work known, led in 2007 to the creation of a quarterly journal, also called Savoir/Agir, which is now in its eleventh year of existence. This positive experience was recently extended by hosting the journal Zilsel, which covers other fields of knowledge (science, technology, society) with new teams of authors.
Partnerships
From the beginning, the founders of the publishing house made seeking partners both an orientation and a way to resist the grip of large publishers on the book market. For partners, Le Croquant offered the possibility of publishing works and distributing them through the bookstore network. The cooperative movement has already been mentioned. With the Terra scientific network, Le Croquant distributed a series of books offering an innovative look at a domain of the public sphere (refugees, life in exile, asylum, etc.) where beliefs and ideology ordinarily dominate.
More recently, and in line with Le Croquant's participation in various initiatives bringing together "engaged" independent publishing (Political Book Fair, Book Village at the Fête de l'Humanité, The Small Political Bookshop, etc.), occasional or more lasting partnerships have been created with Espaces Marx and the journal Économie politique, the European network Transform!, the Parti de Gauche (whose journal L'Intérêt général Le Croquant publishes), the Fondation Copernic, Attac...
By multiplying collaborations, without giving up any of the requirement for rigor and quality of publications that characterized its origins, Le Croquant proposes to contribute to answers to questions such as: how to reduce the weight of the economic-media logic that restricts the space for debate? how to deconstruct the evidence of neoliberal doxa? How to combat the security-minded, or quite simply reactionary, ready-made thinking that has invaded public debate for several years? how to broaden this debate to a lucid examination of public policies, whether right or left, conducted since the 1970s, and to the discussion of alternative proposals?
PROMOTER AND DISTRIBUTOR
Éditions du Croquant are promoted by Cédif and distributed by Pollen.
The works can also be purchased on this site.
