SCIENCES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ - N° 56 -mai 2002
Lesfigures sociales du client
Dossiercoordonné par Franck Cochoy, Univ. Toulouse-Le Mirail

Franck Cochoy,Figures of the customer, lessonsfrom the market
Fabien Ohl,The social construction of the customer and theconsumer
Gaël Bonnin,From pragmatists to rummagers, four types of spatialshopping behavior
Alexandre Mallard,Information technologyin the sphere of relations : towards a more personalized handlingof the customer
Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier, Qualityof products and consumer profiles. Production and marketing ofshellfish
Pascal Ughetto,Customer profiles, service provider profiles
François Cusin,Profiles of the modern bank customer and his paradoxicalrelationship with his bank
Mélanie Roustan,From the polymorphous customer to the figure ofthe « non-customer » : the ambiguities of cannabisdealing
Ygal Fijalkow,The reversible facesof user and consumer : what we can learn from the strike of theInternet users
Sandrine Barrey,The grimaces of thecustomer. From consumer profiles to the profile of the «consumer writer »
Emmanuelle Lévy, Can the user be dissolvedin the organization ?

 
Fabien Ohl,The social construction of the customer and the consumer

Abstract
The consumerand the customer have become references of our society while themore traditional figures of worker or employee have been relegatedto second position. This paper's purpose is to show that thisdevelopment is not a coincidence ; it is not linked to the numerousconsumer situations. The increasing reference to the figures ofcustomer and consumer is the result of a collective productionto which consumer movements, political institutions, media and« socio-marketing » experts contribute. But the consumerand the customer are also of increasing importance in sociologicalresearch; this makes it necessary to deal with the question ofhow sociological analysis contributes to the creation
of these figures.

Keywords: customer, consumer, sociology, marketing, consumerism.

 
Gaël Bonnin,From pragmatists to rummagers, four types of spatial shoppingbehavior

Abstract
Academicresearch has distinguished two types of shopping (utilitarianvs leisure) and two types of retail environments (economic vsleisure). However, the understanding of spatial behavior of shoppersis limited to a quantity of interactions with products and toa functionalist interpretation. This paper presents the resultsof a study aimed at identifying less limited types of spatialbehavior and exploring their meaning. We have identified fourtypes of spatial behavior, which may be interpreted as the creationby consumers of different types of shopping experience.

Keywords: spatialbehavior, observation, retailing, shopping.

 
Alexandre Mallard, Information technology in the sphere of relations: towards a more personalized handling of the customer

Abstract
Information technology tends totransform the way organizations deal with the figure of the customer.This article outlines a series of results of a sociological inquiryconcerning a team of France Telecom commercial travelers. It discussesthe use of recent innovations (such as mobile communication, CRM,call centers) in the everyday activity of establishing a contactbetween customer and supplier. The case study suggests that aswell as its capacity to fit the offer to the customer's desiresand needs, information technology enables a better personalizationof the commercial relationships by means of specific equipmentfor relational work.

Keywords : commercial relationship,communication practices, information technology, France Telecom,telephone.

 
Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier, Quality of productsand consumer profiles. Production and marketing of shellfish

Abstract
Supply professionalsput a constant effort into redefining the profile of the consumersof their different products. These definitions, far from beingstatic, evolve in a dynamic way through the permanent micro-adaptationsbetween products and consumers on markets. Because of their strongmarket power, supermarkets force actors from the production sideto come to terms with stabilised definitions of the customer.In this article, we examine how producers who distribute theirproducts in various ways not completely independent of the majorretailing circuits can produce a definition of the consumer differentfrom the dominant model. In particular the case of the productionand the marketing of fresh shellfish will be described.

Keywords: retailing,markets, shellfish, consumers, quality.

 
Pascal Ughetto, Customer profiles, serviceprovider profiles

Abstract
An increasingnumber of companies are now developing a focus on the customer.However, such a focus is based on a representation of the customer,of his expectations, of his behaviour, etc. Mediators can intervenein the construction of such a representation. Based on the studyof the professional press in the banking sector, the paper dealswith the work consisting of elaborating a profile of the customerfor the management. The purpose is to show that this work impliesthe construction of a profile of the professional likely to givesatisfaction to the customer, that is to say a representation
of the ideal service provider.

Keywords: bank,customer, Internet, professionals, service

 
François Cusin, Profiles of the modernbank customer and his paradoxical relationship with his bank

Abstract
The personalbanking services market has undergone major changes over the pasttwo decades. Within this context the present article aims at understandingwhy, despite the rise of « financial consumerism »,customers' loyalty to their own banks remains strong, and whyindividuals often have paradoxical attitudes toward banks in general(a mixture of trust, mis-trust and distrust). A qualitative datasurvey exploring individual and social representations of thebanking world reveals a multiplicity of registers (interests,emotions, cognitions, norms, values). Analysis of the study leadsto deconstructing the traditionally unified « customer »image and to positing several fundamentally different dimensionsof customer perceptions depending on whether a bank is perceivedprimarily as a system, an activity, an institution or an interpersonalrelationship. The article emphasises that individuals (or house-hold's)relationships with their banks ­ beyond the « mere »commercial dimension ­ is a crucial factor in both economicand social integration.

Keywords: money,bank, customer, loyalty, commercial relationship, representations,salesman, economic sociology.

 
Mélanie Roustan, Fromthe polymorphous customer to the figure of the « non-customer» : the ambiguities of cannabis dealing

Abstract
The practicesand representations associated with the acquisition of cannabis,beyond their ethnographic value, can be used as analysers of themechanisms linked to the act of purchase in general. After a shortdescription of the cannabis end market, the qualification of thecannabis buyer as a customer is discussed. On one hand, the differenttypes of deal (modes of supply) produce a polymorphous figureof the customer; on the other hand the buyers themselves createthe image of the non-customer (on the basis that there can beno customer without « real » sellers or « real» commodities).

Keywords: cannabis,market, trading, customer, consumer, exchange.

 
Ygal Fijalkow, The reversible faces of user and consumer : whatwe can learn from the strike of the Internet users

Abstract
The problematic relationship between user and consumer profileswhich is emerging due to open competition, deregulation, partialprivatisation and the merchandising of public services is examinedin this article. A strike of the Internet users of France Telecomprovides a unique case study of the shift from user to consumerand its ambiguities. An analysis of the survey shows how strikersmanage to combine a commercial and civil register of justificationsand make them reversible and how that paradoxically strengthensboth figures and once again makes users of those who were believedto have been definitively transformed into consumers.

Keywords : user, consumer, public service, open competition,deregulation, privatization, merchandizing, strike, Internet.

 
Sandrine Barrey, The grimaces of the customer. From consumer profilesto the profile of the « consumer writer »

Abstract
This paper is based on a letterscorpus sent to the consumer service of a food distribution chainand investigates the types of consumerism used by their authorswhen they decide to write in order to express themselves. Thestatistical analysis of this corpus first provides a photographof the different profiles of the « customer-writer ».While discussing these first results with regard to the literatureon consumerism, the author differentiates between his resultsand the already existing categories - political consumer, tradeconsumer, etc. - in order to have a closer look at the strategiesemployed by the customers to obtain compensation for the harmdone. Opening the consumerism black box eventually provides accessto how this correspondence is processed by the concerned services.

Keywords : consumerism, consumer letters, consumerservices, mass distribution.

 
Emmanuelle Lévy, Can the user be dissolved in the organization ?

Abstract
« Users » or « customers » as targetsof products or services are now considered as integral playersof the production process. They have thus acquired a place ofhonour in talk about modernisation and have inspired new managerialpractices. To measure the actual impact of these changes, andon the basis of empirical research on the Bus network of the ratp(Paris metro), traces of users within the organisation are examinedand the representations, figures and material signs of their presenceare identified at three points in the process: the transport offer,production and evaluation. The article concludes with the notionof a « paradoxical change »: « more user »rhetoric finally leads to greater rationalisation of the productionprocess, the interface agents bearing most of the weight
of the intended modernisation.

Keywords : public services, modernisation, co-production,service relations, users, figures, representations, quality ofservice, management tools.