Growing up French? Social Marginalization, Intergenerational Connections and the Limitations of Citizenship in France

Based on fieldwork and interviews with middle-class second-generation North African immigrants in France, I discuss how immigrant-origin individuals must navigate the dual cultural worlds of home versus school. I situate growing up French as a question as respondents relay how their “Frenchness”, or place within mainstream French society, was questioned starting at an early age. I interrogate the messages children of North African immigrants received from their parents about being French and being of Maghrébin origin, and trace the influence of these messages on the upward mobility of these second-generation individuals.   I also unpack the cultural repertoires as well as the variation in cultural and social capital this generation inherited from their parents, and how this influences their later upward mobility and middle-class status attainment, as well as their continued experiences of social marginalization. These findings therefore shed light on the complicated processes of integration of immigrant-origin individuals in France and other societies.