This article aims at giving an overview about the four main collections of problems andstudies that have structured over the last four decades what could be called the French school of ruralsociology: from the rural exodus to the “rural renaissance”; the question of social change and innovationin agriculture; the working conditions, living conditions, professions in agriculture, and the alternativeinitiatives and paths away from productivism; politics and organisations in agriculture. In the lastsection, perspectives to understand splintering and coexistence of new forms of production organisationand agricultural trade in a context of globalisation are formulated.