“Le mot est faible”. Humanities and Social Sciences and Social Self-Defence

SHS are increasingly put into question radically. Exposing it is necessary. Elaborating on the attempts to counter this questioning is undoubtedly just as necessary. By taking the case of the “Le Mot est faible” (i.e. “Putting It Mildly”) collection, which gathers together researchers in SHS, the aim is to delve into an experience inseparably scientific, editorial and political. Not only is the question to combat the misuse of words in public debate (race, decolonial, democracy, people, etc.). It is also an active self-defense textbook for SHS conceived as sciences turned both to the scholarly production of knowledge and to the engagement of the latter in the transformation of the social world.