This critique reviews an especially active field of research during the last 20 years in France: the sociology of activism. In this current of sociology, a new interactionist paradigm has emerged that takes into account activists careers and the process of becoming an activist. This critique focuses on how the idea of the "rewards" of activism has been reworked. After reviewing theoretical debates about whether or not new forms of activism and new activists are arising, this article points out two issues for current research, both related to the social division of labor, namely: improving our understanding of, on the one hand, the linkage between macrosocial changes and activism and, on the other hand, of the way that organizations shape activism.
Militancy; Political engagement; Labor division; Organizations; Professionalization; Political parties; Social movements; Associations