Social sciences and the gilets jaunes

This article aims to provide a thematic review of academic works on the gilets jaunes movement since its inception in November 2018. Its purpose is to synthesize the main results emerging from the authors’ reading of the various studies published in the past two years, mainly in sociology and political science, with some forays into history, geography, anthropology, and political theory. In doing so, it outlines the most salient characteristics of the movement as described by the social sciences, as well as the main lines of inquiry and debates the gilets jaunes have sparked.