Discrimination in a Colorblind Society: Are Racial Divisions Shaping the French Model of Integration?”

After being one of the most renowned “assimilationnist’s country” in the world, France has recently been engaged in quick changes in its framing of incorporation of “immigrants”. Indeed, access of “new second generations” (i.e. those born from the waves of immigration of the 1950s and 1960s) to the job market and their visibility in social, political and cultural life have challenged the “French model of integration”, as did the persistance of ethnic and racial discriminations.

This presentation will confront the findings on the social trajectories and identities of second generation in France to the normative model of integration. I will argue that the salience of race and ethnicity in contemporary France is supporting the thesis of an ongoing process of racialization of the French society and the rise of ethnic and racial minorities. Data come from a new survey Trajectories and Origins: a survey on population diversity in France, which is the largest survey ever done in France on immigrants and second generation. Findings on religion, political participation, employment, segregation, social networks and discrimination will be presented to discussion th ehypothesis of the formation of racial divisions in French society.