La connexion des réseaux comme facteur de changement institutionnel : l'exemple des vins de Bourgogne

How to explain the change that occurred in the inter-war period in the assessment of Burgundy wines quality? A previous historical and ethnological study has analyzed the shift from the domination of the wine market by the traders of Beaune to the vineyard owners around Dijon. This research proposes some tools and a basic formalization in order to account of this structural transformation. A first analysis in terms of networks emphasizes that the change observed in the economic field in favour of the owners could not have taken place without the superposition of their influence in the cultural and political fields, both at the national and regional levels. Thus some actors are quite central, in the linking of different networks and the shift from one standard to another in the evaluation of wine quality. Consequently the economic equilibrium itself is drastically altered. This supports a theory of power in terms of structural holes "à la Burt". The tools of statistical physics are then adapted to this socio-economic context in order to get a formal dynamic model. It shows that long distance links from Dijon to Paris makes possible to overcome the initial asymmetry in favour of the Beaune traders. Modelling also suggests that this influence is not monotonous since there is a threshold for the probability of a long distance interaction above which prevails again a symmetrical equilibrium between Beaune and Dijon. Lastly, the same structural model can be applied mutatis mutandis to the current crisis of some French vintages: the internationalization of another quality standard for wines is the consequence of the emergence of new consumer countries. Thus, these three analyses converge towards the same provisional conclusion: the stability of local interactions leading to a set of conventions and institutions can be challenged by the strategy of new actors that benefit from long distance links and their ability to connect economic along with cultural or political networks.