The Roma Immigrant Children’s Identity Shifts Process within the French Education System and Impact on Social Cohesiveness

This research highlights the close connection between the Roma’s immigration context, the immigrant populations’ economic objectives, their children’s schooling and influence on social cohesiveness. Using a three-year long methodological approach, studying the Roma immigrant population in France, this research shows how the children’s education creates conflicting situations within the community and the impact it has on the ethnic group’s social cohesiveness.

First, results show that the Roma children who are enrolled in schools go through a number of identity changes that challenge them. These shifts bring about multiple identities for these children and they influence their social behaviour. Second, data shows that these identity changes jeopardize the ethnic group’s social cohesiveness mainly through individualistic actions and behavioural patterns that lead to the fragmentation of the extended Roma family’s structure.

This research shows two main risk factors for social cohesiveness. On the one hand, the Roma children who are schooled are increasingly less involved in the production of financial and economic resources for the group, thus creating tensions between the various families making it up. On the other hand, a cultural and ethnic discrepancy is created between the Roma children who are enrolled in school and the other members of the group. As a result of their schooling the Roma children’s ethnic identity is challenged by their new social behavioural patterns.