Christelle Hamel

The Place of Racism in the Study of Discrimination

What is the experience of racism of migrants and their descendants? Persons from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the French overseas departements are very frequently the targets of “explicitly racist remarks and behaviours”, while those from Southeast Asia, Turkey or Europe much less so. Being born in France to a parent from one of these countries and having French nationality does not reduce this experience of racism. On the contrary, racism is reiterated and expressed in school and in public places, but also at work and in dealings with public services. It is compounded by experience of exclusion and discrimination. Conversely, persons from the mainstream population are rarely exposed to this type of situation and never report discrimination. Their experience of remarks perceived as racist is most often limited to public places or school. Racism targeting migrants and their descendants categorizes them into minority groups (in the sense of discriminated minorities), while racist remarks targeting the mainstream population have no material impact upon them.

Conclusion: Diversity of Origins and the Emergence of Minorities

The principal objective of the TeO survey was to explore the effects of origins on the lives of persons residing in France. In pursuit of this goal, over the chapters of this volume and across the themes explored in the survey, the contributors analysed whether individuals’ socioeconomic situations vary depending on whether or not they or their parents migrated to metropolitan France. While our analyses focus primarily on the “mean effect” of origins in order to shed light on possible discrimination, it is important to remember that the groups studied are very heterogeneous. Yet, crude as they may be, the groupings by origin used in the different chapters of this book are more detailed than those in other available statistical sources in France. They reveal specificities by origin that are sometimes very marked, and that until now have rarely been empirically demonstrated.

Union Formation in a Multicultural Context

How does national origin influence the choice of partner? This chapter examines union formation in relation to migration history. As one might expect, it reveals very low proportions of mixed unions among migrant groups where individuals had already formed a family before migrating (persons of Turkish origin, for example), but high proportions among individuals who arrived in France as young singles (migrants from Spain and Italy). These conditions of arrival strongly influence the way in which migrants descendants born in France choose their partner: unions are less frequently formed with someone from the mainstream population if the parents generation already had a family when they arrived in France, as ties with the country and community of origin remain stronger in such cases. However, the models of union formation are changing radically, with direct marriage giving way to cohabitation, and with partners being chosen from among friends or colleagues rather than through the parents social network. Beyond national origin, social and religious homogamy remain the most structuring components of partner choice, and mixed unions predominantly concern highly educated individuals with no religious affiliation.