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My thanks to @mathieugallard for sharing a few days ago the latest annual report on attitudes towards racism, anti-semitism, and xenophobia in France --- by the French commission on the rights of humanity (adding context during translation is fun). https://www.cncdh.fr/sites/default/files/rapport_racisme_-_v_definitive_08_06_2020.pdf
Just as with @SibethNdiaye's excellent and heartfelt piece in @lemondefr two weekends ago, I am struck by the overall similarities in the discussion and by the positive progress made in both countries. But also the different and incompatible sensibilities. https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2020/06/13/sibeth-ndiaye-nous-payons-aujourd-hui-l-effacement-de-l-universalisme-republicain_6042708_3232.html
I alluded to the parts of Ndiaye's piece that are heard less clearly in the UK. Specifically, where she suggests that fights against gender discrimination (by the right) and against all forms of social inequality (on the left) might have diluted progress against racism.
Back to the report. 367 pages. Big. My favourite purely statistical feature of it is that they separate out the online responses from the face to face responses. And Wowzers does it show a mix of,
* Online panels are hard to balance.
* (more likely) people are more racist online.
* Online panels are hard to balance.
* (more likely) people are more racist online.
"Are you a racist?" > Ask a French to their face and 60% of them will say absolutely not. Give them a little bit more time and the safety of sitting alone behind a keyboard without someone else in the room... and they're a fair bit more racist than that.
As in the UK, the French are becoming more tolerant. A long way to go, with a big recent retrenchment in tolerance (whose timing suggests it is linked more to the financial crisis than the terrorist attacks) now recovered from.
I'm sure this is well known in polling circles, but I've not seen it before. You get the same with who people voted for. Ask them face to face and they voted for Macron (2nd round) for President. 10% are lying. But give them a bit of privacy,... and they tell the truth.
Lots of data on French people's opinions towards different religions and ethnicities --- and due to the long-standing racism towards East Asians, with recent increases in violence, a special analysis of that. And also much talk about Roma, the most discriminated against group.
Last but not least - one of the biggest divides between the discussion about race in the UK and in France. Just 56% of French think that "all races are equal", down from 67%. But that's not because "some races are superior to others" is up. That's down too. It's the third option.
Laïcité -- hard to type, even harder to define. "Secularism on steroids" is a translation. You can read Wikipedia yourself. A hugely popular concept in France means that increasing numbers of French (especially educated lefties) thinks grouping people by race is nonsense.
That is a big difference to the UK. There is no way that the majority of,
* Senior professionals (managers?!).
* Graduates.
* New left (Greens + Corbynites).
In the UK would agree with a statement like "race doesn't exist/isn't a useful feature for analysis". In France they do.
* Senior professionals (managers?!).
* Graduates.
* New left (Greens + Corbynites).
In the UK would agree with a statement like "race doesn't exist/isn't a useful feature for analysis". In France they do.
