Ethnicisation and urban stigmatisation in contemporary France: the case of "les jeunes de banlieue"

Mémoire Société & moeurs Sociologie

Date de publication :

18/04/2007

Langue :

Anglais

Format :

.doc

Nombre de pages :

15 pages

Niveau :

expert

Consulté :

3 fois

Avis client :

non évalué

Validé par :

le comité Oboulo.com

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Sommaire :

Sommaire

The french suburbs today and the events of october and november 2005
1. A shift in the meaning of the word ?banlieue?
2. Riots
The concepts of the french state-nation and patrie
1. Outline of the concepts
2. Towards more 'patrie'?
?The social construction of ethnicity in urban areas?
1. An attempt to define 'le jeune de banlieue'
2. Immigration and integration policies
3. The concept of ethnicity in france and its colonial past
4. Assertion of identity and ethnicisation of the social relationships: the dilemma of 'le jeune de banlieue'
5. Ethnicity as a 'double-edged' concept

Résumé :

In france, the concept of ethnicity, contrary to its Anglo-Saxon definition and use in anthropology for example, is highly philosophically, historically and politically connoted. Indeed, its use has its roots in the colonial past of france. Since the 1980s, and the increasing social problems in the suburbs of france, sheltering a large population of immigrants, the concept has reappeared, first within the closed circle of ethnographs, sociologists and anthropologists inspired by the American anthropology, spreading then in the media and in the general discourse on these populations by the politicians. One can thus talk about the ethnicisation of the social link in the French suburbs. The recent riots in October and November 2005, following the death of two young from a 'cité' in the suburbs of Paris, have one more time outlined the quest of identity within the French Nation of the second and third generations of immigrants. It seems thus that 'le jeune de banlieues' (the young of suburbs) appears a central symbol of this ethnicisation, being victim of its effect but at the same time contributing to it.
The discussion on the concept of ethnicity in france is highly ideological. It is politically and socially problematized. Ethnicity in the French republican thought is linked to the Anglo-Saxon idea of 'communitarism', 'multiculturalism' or 'cultural particularism'. The three terms in this thought seem to be understood as very closed even perhaps as synonyms. But talking about ethnicity in france is also related to the concept of 'Patrie', culturally defined, which subtends the concept of the political nation
The purpose of this article is to discuss the implications of the use of ethnicity as a political and cultural concept and to explore within the framework of the concepts of French State-Nation and 'Patrie', the dilemma of these young Frenchmen from the 'cités', who do not feel completely French and often sense that they are excluded from the French society. Thus, the young from the suburbs appears as a symbolic figure of the reconsideration of the "social link" and the national cohesion of france.
I will thus firstly describe the riots of fall 2005. Then I will outline the concepts of the French Nation-State and Patrie, in order to emphasize their implications for the use of the concept of ethnicity in france. Finally I will explore the current ethnicisation of the social link in the French suburbs.