A competition company? For Jean Viard, “We must combine cooperation, effort and success, the question of meaning and opportunities to be seized is central”

Does our society only live in competition? This is the question we are asking today, the day of the Paris marathon, to sociologist Jean Viard.

On this day of the Paris marathon, synonymous with exploits and surpassing achievements for thousands of runners, we wonder if our society does not only live through competition. It’s true that today we tend to make classifications of everything. As soon as we’ve run 10 kilometers, we’re going to take a selfie on social media. Competition ultimately begins at school, then in high school, and in the business world.

franceinfo: Can we escape this state of competition?

Jean Viard: So it depends on what we teach children, starting at school. Are they all lined up in front of the teachers, classified all day? There are places where we no longer classify children, for example. Is a child’s goal to be at the top of the class? We’ve always made fun of the top of the class, which is stupid at the same time, because they’re the ones who work very well.

Basically, it’s from childhood, do we teach children to work together, to hand in homework that they do in threes or fours, they sign it in threes or fours. All of these elements are important. Some schools, like the Decroly schools for example, work a lot on cooperation between children. Afterwards, there is a question of effort, that is to say that indeed, learning, developing physically, requires effort, it requires training. But it’s true for dancing, running, horse riding or math. So there is this notion of effort, and it is important, because the desire to learn is discontinuous.

We see children who are passionate about one subject, not another. How do we handle this question? So the effort exists, Success, it’s not shameful to say that succeeding is not negative. Being a good journalist, a good mason, a good bus driver, I mean being proud of what you do. Every profession has its pride. So we have to say that, and say that we must indeed articulate cooperation, effort and success. And then say one thing: we are not all the same. It’s like in sports, there are some who run faster, others who are plumper, still others who don’t know how to climb a rope. I mean, it’s not dramatic, so you can’t be first everywhere.

But there is still a difference between the desire to surpass oneself, the desire to be the first, the best?

Yes, but it’s partly about yourself. Look in companies, for a long time, we thought that what was important was to have the biggest turnover, then later we realized that it was stupid. What matters is having the best result. And today, a company depends on the quality of the management group, and the quality of social ties. This is why there are almost no more conflicts in companies, because we have understood that the central issue is the fact that we are all on the same project, that we speaks, that economic conditions are correct for everyone. And we feel it very well in the economic environment, because in such an unpredictable world, we don’t know what we will be like in five years.

No box knows exactly. Electric car, not electric car, less cycling, will we live in the city…we don’t know. So, it’s the quality, the cultural body of the company, and the fact that it gives itself meaning, direction, and that we can be proud to work there. I value pride a lot. It’s an important element, but not just individual. If your company does a good job from an ecological point of view too, etc., you say, I work there, you are proud. There are other companies, I think you are less proud, even if you are well paid.

Is that more the meaning?

It is the question of meaning that is central, meaning must be highlighted. But I don’t think the exploit should be banned. We also need people who stand out, some work more, who go faster.

The question is: how do we offer people an opportunity to experience different things. This is what I am very attentive to. And what is very important in life is to seize opportunities. There are people, they never see the opportunities that pass them by. This is also true in love, in work, in politics, etc. And then others have their eyes open to everything that is around them. And this question of awareness, attention, and the capacity to be surprised is also an essential element of success.