About us

LOCI (Lower Classes and Public Institutions) is an international research network initiated and led by Vincent Dubois, a professor of sociology and political science at Sciences Po Strasbourg. The network brings together over fifty researchers from around the world who study various national contexts, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Hungary, India, Italy, and the United States, among others.

Within this informal network, anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, public administration scholars, and social work scholars discuss their research on the relationship between lower classes and institutions. They refer to this programmatic text, which specifies a common framework. They then adjust this framework according to their disciplinary background and the specificities of their fieldwork. All of their research is conducted based on two premises: focusing on the experiences and perspectives of clients rather than on the work and attitudes of bureaucratic agents and taking a comprehensive view of all public institutions that people encounter in their lives rather than reducing the analysis to a single institution (e.g., the police) or a specific policy sector (e.g., health).

Beyond their individual research, the scholars meet monthly for online seminars and occasionally for workshops, conferences, and research stays. They also conduct collaborative comparative research.