National Identity of France
France is a country with rich history along with diverse backgrounds in many of the people who inhabit the country. This blog is focused on looking at and recognizing what the national identity of France is and how the Others help strengthen the identity. First, this blog needs to establish the guideline of France and what kind of dominant attributes are displayed through France culture. Attributes would be gender, race, ethnicity, language, sexuality and religion.
France’s national identity has been debated for a long time. The country of France is very large, being the 3rd biggest country in Europe, and has 66 million people populating the country. With so many people in one country, it usually comes with differing opinions. Typically, most people presume the dominant culture of France comes from what is seen in Paris, because it is the capital of France, most populated city in France and a huge tourist spot for many people visiting Western Europe. Dominant culture in terms of religion and language in France is Catholicism and the most spoken language is French, along with German and Arabic (Zimmermann). The minor ethnic groups include the Basque, Germans, Jews, Muslims and a myriad of other groups. Stating these dominant cultures while listing out the minority groups help establish the national identity of France along with the relation to the Others.
National identity is “conceptualized as sameness” (Triandafyllidou). For many people in France, they identify their national identity with the majority which are the dominant cultures listed above such as being catholic, speaking French, having French descent, etc. For the minority groups who do not associate themselves with the dominant attributes, could be listed as “The Others”. The Others “differ from the members of the community precisely in features such as speaking a different language or having a different dress style” (Triandafyllidou). An example of the attitudes displayed from people of the dominant culture to the Others is from an article by The Independent. This article states that the author was talking to his old 60 year old French neighbor, who stated he would not watch the soccer game because, “The team disgusts me because they are not really French" (The Independent). This is an example of dominant attitude towards the Others because he refuses to watch the game because some of the members on the team have different toned skin, even though they were born in France, resulting in alienation of the Others and essentially attempting to drive them out. Another example is a statistic from Economist. The statistic states “Youth unemployment of 32% for French-born citizens whose parents arrived from Africa, including sub-Saharan countries and those of the Maghreb, is twice as high as for those with no immigrant background” (Economist). French society displays a clear bias for non immigrants, to the point of jobs and livelihood being affected. Actions such as these are not just limited socially, but on the political level as well.
The attitudes towards the Others are also directly related to politics as well. Even though there are laws which encourage equality, “In May 2007 the government created the Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-Development, which among other things was tasked with “promoting national identity” (Simon) and actions by the government which also promote equality “in May, the Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually Supportive Development pursued a reform which could restrict the role of the six NGOs nominated to work in migration detention centres. In November, the Council of State upheld the reform” (Amnesty International). There are still issues with attitudes towards Others which stems from political leaders of France.
France still has a problem with treatment towards minor ethnic groups in the present, evidenced by what their President had to say on immigration and such. Francois Hollande, the president of France, has repeatedly addressed the immigration issue as a problem “I think there are too many arrivals, of immigration that shouldn't be there” (Samuel) and “It's not Islam itself that poses a problem for being a religion that dangerous for the Republic but because it wants to assert itself as a religion inside the French Republic" (Samuel). Francois is voluntarily driving out some of the minority ethnic groups in France by saying that, essentially keeping Catholicism as the dominant religion.
The reason why social inequality exists towards the Others may be in the roots of French history. Events such as World War 2 and how France was invaded, or recent events such as the 2015 Paris attacks have left the citizens of France with negative feelings of minority groups in France. Establishment of a dominant religion in earlier times, “It is testimony to the degree to which religion was nationalized and the nation sacralized in nineteenth century Europe” (Berger) also leads to a more defined national identity because the majority is already within one religion. This leads to the attitude between the dominant culture and Others we have today, such as the old man stating he would never watch soccer played by the France national team just because of skin color.
The national identity and relationship between majority and minority is clear in France. The Others in this country are considerably on the outside due to not having the same skin color, ethnic background, and religion as the dominant culture in France. Past events in the history of France have ingrained this type of behavior and the relationship between the majority and the minority, making it considerably hard to live as an Other in France. Limitations are imposed such as looking for jobs for minorities. France is slowly headed in the right direction due to laws regarding immigration and national identity. As long as the laws slowly increase to favor the relationship between majority and minority, change will be seen from politicians to the citizens of France.
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