Sociology of Reputations

The sociology of reputations is a dynamic but weakly structured field of research. This article participates in the organization of this field by proposing a sociological definition of reputation and by identifying five big cross-sectional issues in the literature: the link between reputation and reality (the theory of reputation-reflect as a critical target); the control of one’s reputation by the reputed actor; the traditional dichotomy between « good » and « bad » reputation and its validity; the spaces and temporalities of reputations ; finally, the different reputed « entities » and their possible relations.