English
This article looks at the role played by figures in the arguments that were put forward during parliamentary debates over working-time reduction, first with the institution of the 40-hour week in 1936 and then with that of the 35-hour week (1998–2000). Having identified four main ways of using figures that prevailed in these debates, we focus on the preponderant status of economic expertise and emphasize a paradox: the increasingly sophisticated figures used in parliamentary debates seem to weaken their democratic dimension.
Keywords
- working time reduction
- parliamentary debates
- economic expertise
- lexical analysis
- quantification