Ethnic solidarity in France

Résumé du document

Many foreign observers have seen the recent uprising of the French suburbs as an ethnic phenomenon. In France, Le Pen's only shared this point of view.
Issues like ethnicity or races are taboo in the Republican France, which make it even more difficult to build a paper on the topic. Indeed, few researches are done, since it goes against the republican culture but also against the French sociological tradition. Indeed, the French sociological School reacted at the beginning of the 20th century against the prevailing culturalism and neo-Darwinism by creating an analysis of social stratification that overshadowed the differentiations based on nationality and origins. The notion of ethnic groups is still considered as having a racist and exclusionary sense. Besides, ethnic groups are absent from official statistics, as it would be considered as discrimination.
Ethnicity is defined by Patrick Simon, a French demographer, as " a set of factors such as language, religion, cultural practices and sometimes spatial context. These may occur together or in isolation. All, however, are systematically associated with an awareness of belonging to a group, usually routed in a common history, real or perceived. Ultimately, the subjective dimension appears to prevail over all criteria". Ethnic solidarity has thus to be defined as solidarity within such groups.
The aim of this paper is to see to what extent ethnic solidarity is developed in France and what are its major manifestations. We will also devote an important part to the paper to the recent riots to see if it is an ethnic phenomenon or not. Basically, our aim is to see if ethnic groups are closed communities, differentiating themselves from other ethnic groups, or if ethnic groups have only weak social ties among its members or no social ties at all. We will try to establish whether individuals having a specific ethnic background is genuinely committed to his ethnic group or if he is just an individual with loose ethnic ties.
Our hypothesis can be summarized in the following way: ethnic solidarity is weak in France, even if some manifestations may prove the contrary.
To deny or confirm this hypothesis, we will first provide an extensive analysis of the current situation of the ethnic groups. That is to say that the ethnic composition of the population in France will be analysed, as well as the official French policy concerning integration , and the level of organisation of the ethnic groups. Even if sociological theories will already be applied in this part, the major sociological theoretical part will be included to the second part, when the manifestations of ethnic solidarity will be analysed, along with the "episode" of the violent uprising of the "banlieues", the French suburbs.

Extraits

[...] In continental France, only four mayors are “coloured”. This part has underlined the structure of the immigrated populations of France and the official policy of integration. The French model seems to promote a society ignoring differences, but the real situation has also to be analysed, as the may be only a fiction hiding genuine racism and discrimination. Part II : Current ethnic solidarity in France Manifestations of negative ethnic solidarity The French model may promote and & society, if we take the perspective of Etzioni. [...]

[...] The ethnic pluralist model citizenship is related to the Apartheid regime in South Africa until 1994. It couples an ethnic conception of citizenship with a pluralist view of cultural obligations. The last model, the civic-asssimilationist model, is related to France: civic conception of citizenship and assimilationist view of cultural obligations. It is relatively easy to obtain French citizenship, but the price to be paid for it is giving-up ethnic-based identities in favour of accepting the republican ideal of the State. [...]

[...] Ethnic solidarity in France Many foreign observers have seen the recent uprising of the French suburbs as an ethnic phenomenon. In France, Le Pen's only shared this point of view. Issues like ethnicity or races are taboo in the Republican France, which make it even more difficult to build a paper on the topic. Indeed, few researches are done, since it goes against the republican culture but also against the French sociological tradition. Indeed, the French sociological School reacted at the beginning of the 20th century against the prevailing culturalism and neo-Darwinism by creating an analysis of social stratification that overshadowed the differentiations based on nationality and origins. [...]

[...] Anti-Arabic acts have increased to 563 acts, including 162 violent acts. Profanations of cemeteries and attacks against mosques have also increased. During the presidential elections of of the votes went to Le Pen, the leader of the far-right FN (National Front), while only 16% went to Jospin, the Socialist Prime Minister. Furthermore, a new racism is developing itself: Black anti-Semitism. Since two years, the most famous French black humorist, Dieudonné, is campaigning against the “Jewish domination” and holds negationnist speeches. [...]

[...] Being the majority, it doesn't behave as a interdependent group. It includes the “Gaulois” (suburb slang for those who are French born and bread) and also the former white immigrants who are completely assimilated (Polish, Italians, Portuguese Two graphs may sum up the situation of the immigrated population of France. They are included at the end of the present paper The French republican model of integration, a new solidarity Driven by its official republican values, France has built a specific model of integration. [...]