The efforts of rural communities around the world to survive in the face of economic and demographic decline dramatise the bio-cultural processes on which human regeneration routinely depends. This paper explores the very conspicuous symbolic aspects of regeneration in a village in Catalonia, Spain, and traces the long term physical and material processes that underlie them. Scrutiny of two different festivals reveals a passionate concern to renegotiate deeply fractured generational relationships. Having exported its fertility to the towns and cities, the community is now working to incorporate newcomers and devise new livelihoods. Public rituals have done much to sustain these efforts at regeneration, but how they may resist the “sterile growth” of Mieres as a village of mostly empty second homes is a provocative new issue.

The analysis of the 2004 ISSP survey, limited to nine of the countries participating in this programme of representative opinion polls, shows that the way people consider the duties of a citizen are divided into four types, depending on whether the emphasis is placed on norms or on others, and whether the morality governing normative judgements about the “good” citizen is conventional or post-conventional. These different axiological directions are linked with attitudes towards participative democracy. The duty of civility, which can be associated with democratic public ethics, is approved quite widely. But a much more active participation, closed in some regards to a deliberative democracy, seems to require post-conventional morality, especially when it is founded on liberal or reasonable pluralism.

Starting with Hans Joas’ theory of creative action and Alberto Melucci's theory of collective identity (with slight modifications), the paper specify the conditions for a useful application of newer theories of social movements. Using this (neo-) pragmatist perspective, and drawing on the example of the development of civic opposition in Poland, it endeavours to question and expand the explanatory potential of the theories of relative deprivation, political opportunity structures, network analysis and framing analysis.

The ongoing wave of radical religious protest confirms the need for an alternative to the rationalist approach that has come to dominate social movement research. At this moment, it seems promising to take another look at Weber’s sociology of religion: it offers a theory which (1) proposes an unfamiliar account of the relation between personal identity and political activism, (2) builds on this to explain the functioning of a specific type of social movements organization, and (3) thereby identifies mechanisms causing a dynamic of protest that cannot be reduced to a “rational” adaptation to an opportunity structure. These concepts can also elucidate the working of movements that are not explicitly religious in character.

The main characteristics of public space are accessibility and usability for all citizens. Current developments primarily observed in cities, however, point to the fact that the distinction between public and private is becoming blurred. Instead urban spaces of hybrid character are emerging. Spaces with public functions like train stations, parks or pedestrian areas change character; semi-private spaces like malls or plazas expand. In order to obtain a realistic assessment of these developments the paper offers a critical appraisal of recent privatization trends followed by a brief systematization. After a discussion of feasible reasons for the loss of public space, the paper considers potential implications for the future of citizenship.

Le comité de Rédaction de la revue a souhaité marquer le centenaire de Claude Lévi-Strauss par deux contributions qui, chacune à sa manière, témoignent de l’importance d’un maître dont, depuis un demi-siècle la pensée a influencé le devenir de toutes les sciences sociales.

In 906, the Abbot Reginon von Prüm issued a questionnaire concerning the sins perpetrated during the past year within a given parish. Two important improvements can be found in the questionnaire as compared to the already existing handbooks of penance: instead of being used for the private confession of sins, it was designed for a public investigation, and it demonstrates an effort toward some objectivity, by avoiding reproofs or value judgements. For these reasons, it appears as a significant advance in survey questionnaires. A French translation of the questionnaire is provided in the appendix.