The construction of meaning in an ambiguous political event

Abstract Based on an analysis of the situation in France after the uprising of May 13, 1958, this article analyzes the theoretical and empirical class of ambiguous political events. During such events, the holders of political power, faced with an actor who has assumed a political role by transgressing the established order, must take a stance. Since contradictory meanings can be attributed to the challenger’s actions based on the categories of thought constituting that order, the power holders experience an ambiguity: they are unable to say “how things stand with what is,” to use Luc Boltanski’s expression. The challenge, then, is to elucidate both the process through which they can leave their cognitive uncertainty behind and the conditions that would make that possible. This approach sheds light on the transition from one political order to another.