Antony Mahé, Doctor of Sociology, is Director of Studies at Eranos. Discover his current research and work.

What is your professional news?

I am working at Eranos on a project to write a book that will be published in early 2021. It is an international survey on the social construction of women’s self-confidence, carried out in 11 countries and financed by L’Oréal.

I am also carrying out several parallel studies on the issue of care, concern and vulnerability of companies, which allows us to rethink the question of commitment (beyond the normative framework of Corporate Social Responsibility), trust and managerial figures (Perrier-Jouët, Axa Prévention, Pierre Fabre, L’Oréal).

Finally, in connection with La Poste, my main work focuses on the digital economy and the theme of the attention economy, the rare resource of the 21st century, from an ethical perspective.

What exactly is the nature of your mission with La Poste?

I have been leading a study for 2 years now on the dematerialization of exchanges, in partnership with La Poste.

The first part consisted in deconstructing the myths of the digital economy (Artificial Intelligence, big datas, apps, etc.) and digital communication by insisting on the importance of the materiality of the mediums and the need for an advertiser to anticipate the effects of these mediums in order to build a communication strategy. In my book on dematerialization, I point out the physical reality of communication media misrepresented as “dematerialized” (Dematerialization did not take place, ed influences 2020).

The second work in progress concerns the attention economy. It is a critical analysis of the attention crisis we are experiencing due to the multiplication of messages and solicitations. The results propose ethical and responsible communication objectives for communicators, putting the question of care at the heart of communication strategies.

One of the objects of your research is the economy of attention. What exactly does this mean?

I am going to publish a book on the notion of attention ecology in 2021.

This project on attention should lead to works to create indicators that would make it possible to build real communication policies. Perhaps this will be in partnership with bodies such as the United Nations.