Abstract (EN)

In a context of politico-administrative reorganisations, “Pôle emploi” was created in 2008 by merging “Assedic” and “ANPE”, which were respectively responsible for compensating the unemployed and placing them in employment. Based on two ethnographic surveys, this article analyses the issues at stake in the implementation of such a reorganisation, beyond the initial reformist watchwords. It shows how the merger reconfigures professional groups, from the dual point of view of work practices and the hierarchical relationships associated with them. The merger makes the work of street-level bureaucrats more complex, as they have to deal with the coercive orientation of the reform. But some groups of managers even see this as a professional opportunity : by promoting their managerial vision of bureaucratic rationalisation, they regain the margins of institutional power.