France

Racial and ethnic inequalities remain an underdeveloped area of research in France. This situation can mainly be attributed to the fact that researchers have been strongly influenced, on the one hand, by a political model of integration (presented in more detail in Section 12.3.3) that has led France ‘to ignore itself as a country of immigration’ (Noiriel, 1988) and encouraged a colorblind approach to social reality (Lorcerie, 1994a) and, on the other hand, by Marxist political and scientific perspectives giving central importance to class in the study of society. However, since the 1980s, due to important changes in the immigrant population and in policy towards immigrants, as well as to the arrival of a new generation of researchers and the growing internationalization of French research, the number of studies in this domain has increased and diversified. There are however very few reviews of the existing scientific literature (Lorcerie, 1995, 2003; Payet, 2003; Payet and van Zanten, 1996; van Zanten, 1997b) and only one in English (van Zanten, 1997a). Therefore, the following critical survey, based on a systematic sampling of the literature and covering 30 years of research, including very recent studies, should prove useful to various, and especially anglophone, audiences. [Chapter's first paragraph

Origine migratoire et inégalités scolaires : étude longitudinale des résultats scolaires des descendants d’immigrés en France et en Angleterre

Ce texte propose une analyse quantitative de l’évolution des résultats scolaires des descendants d’immigrés de l’école primaire à la fin de l’enseignement secondaire en France et en Angleterre, grâce à l’exploitation de trois panels d’élèves de grande ampleur : les panels 1995 et 1997 du ministère de l’Éducation nationale en France, la Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) en Angleterre. Les résultats obtenus montrent que, par-delà les effets de leur origine sociale, les descendants d’immigrés de Turquie ont des résultats scolaires systématiquement plus bas que les autres en France, alors que les enfants d’immigrés d’Asie du Sud-Est et de Chine se situent, des deux côtés de la Manche, au sommet de la stratification scolaire. Le fort rattrapage scolaire des descendants d’immigrés par rapport aux enfants de natifs dans le secondaire en Angleterre contraste avec le décrochage relatif de la plupart des enfants d’immigrés dans les collèges français. Au total, il semble que, par rapport aux enfants de natifs, les descendants d’immigrés s’en sortent mieux en Angleterre qu’en France. En plus de leur position sociale dans le pays d’immigration, les propriétés sociales pré-migratoires des parents immigrés, en particulier leur position éducative relative dans leur pays d’origine, permettent de rendre compte des positions scolaires de leurs enfants au sein des systèmes scolaires français et anglais.This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the academic achievement of descendants of immigrants from primary school to the end of secondary education in France and England. Three large-scale panel surveys of students are used: the 1995-2006 and 1997-2007 panel studies by the French Ministry of Education and the 2004-2010 Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The results show that, over and above the effects of their socioeconomic background, the children of Turkish immigrants have consistently lower academic achievement than other groups in France, while descendants of immigrants from Southeast Asia and China are at the top of the academic stratification in both France and England. In England, descendants of immigrants catch up with children of natives during secondary education, while they tend to fall behind in French secondary schools. Overall, compared to children of natives, descendants of immigrants fare better academically in England than in France. In addition to their socioeconomic background in the destination country, immigrant parents’ pre-migration characteristics, especially their educational position relative to their country of origin, help explain the academic achievement of their children within the French and English school systems

Tracking and Sorting in the French Educational System

This paper provides an overview of tracking policies in secondary education in France. Drawing on two large datasets on educational trajectories and labour-market outcomes, it identifies patterns of social inequalities associated with track allocation in secondary education. It assesses the long-term consequences of track assignment and its mediating role in the association between social origin and occupational outcomes. Results confirm the large association between social origin and track allocation on the one hand, and between track attainment and higher education and labour-market outcomes at occupational maturity on the other hand. We also find that track attainment accounts for a large share of the association between social origin, measured either by parental education or by social class, and outcomes at occupational maturity. These results highlight the importance of tracking policies for social stratification in the French context

The LifeCycle Project-EU Child Cohort Network : a federated analysis infrastructure and harmonized data of more than 250,000 children and parents

Early life is an important window of opportunity to improve health across the full lifecycle. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that exposure to adverse stressors during early life leads to developmental adaptations, which subsequently affect disease risk in later life. Also, geographical, socio-economic, and ethnic differences are related to health inequalities from early life onwards. To address these important public health challenges, many European pregnancy and childhood cohorts have been established over the last 30 years. The enormous wealth of data of these cohorts has led to important new biological insights and important impact for health from early life onwards. The impact of these cohorts and their data could be further increased by combining data from different cohorts. Combining data will lead to the possibility of identifying smaller effect estimates, and the opportunity to better identify risk groups and risk factors leading to disease across the lifecycle across countries. Also, it enables research on better causal understanding and modelling of life course health trajectories. The EU Child Cohort Network, established by the Horizon2020-funded LifeCycle Project, brings together nineteen pregnancy and childhood cohorts, together including more than 250,000 children and their parents. A large set of variables has been harmonised and standardized across these cohorts. The harmonized data are kept within each institution and can be accessed by external researchers through a shared federated data analysis platform using the R-based platform DataSHIELD, which takes relevant national and international data regulations into account. The EU Child Cohort Network has an open character. All protocols for data harmonization and setting up the data analysis platform are available online. The EU Child Cohort Network creates great opportunities for researchers to use data from different cohorts, during and beyond the LifeCycle Project duration. It also provides a novel model for collaborative research in large research infrastructures with individual-level data. The LifeCycle Project will translate results from research using the EU Child Cohort Network into recommendations for targeted prevention strategies to improve health trajectories for current and future generations by optimizing their earliest phases of life.Peer reviewe

Who they were there: immigrants' educational selectivity and their childrens' educational attainment

This article examines the educational selectivity of immigrants in France—i.e. how their level of education contrasts with that of non-migrants in their country of birth–and the influence of this selectivity on the educational attainment of their children. I combine the Barro-Lee data set (2010) with the French TeO survey (2008–2009) to construct a measure of ‘relative educational attainment’, i.e. an immigrant’s position in the distribution of educational attainment among the population of the same cohort and gender in the immigrant’s country of birth. I demonstrate that the level of immigrants’ relative educational attainment differs both between and within countries of origin. I then show the positive influence of immigrant parents’ relative educational attainment on their children’s educational attainment, over and above family socioeconomic status in France. The intergenerational transmission of cultural resources and subjective social status are the proposed sociological mechanisms that can account for the intergenerational effect of immigrant educational selectivity

Les origines des inégalités scolaires : contribution à l’étude des trajectoires scolaires des enfants d’immigrés en France et en Angleterre

Breaking with the simplistic link between children of immigrants and academic underachievement, I aim at describing and explaining the diverse academic trajectories of children of immigrants in France and England. As my main analytical framework, I conceive of migration as a discontinuity in the socialization of immigrants and emphasize the resources passed on to children within their families, communities and schools. My empirical sources consist of several large-scale quantitative surveys and nearly a hundred biographical interviews in both countries. I describe the shape of academic hierarchies in France and England, and examine the position of different groups of children of immigrants and natives within them. This empirical analysis shows the great magnitude of academic heterogeneity within the “second generation”. Statistical and qualitative analyses of the pre-migration experiences and social characteristics of immigrant parents, as well as the study of various socialization processes in the destination society, can help explain this academic heterogeneity. Overall, this research lends support to sociological analyses based on immigrants’ social position and related resources to explain the academic trajectories of their children, on the condition that these positions and resources be redefined to take into account the double status of parents as emigrants from their country of origin and immigrants in the society in which their children attend school.Rompant avec l’association réductrice entre les enfants d’immigrés et l’échec scolaire, l’objectif de cette recherche est de décrire et d’expliquer la diversité des trajectoires scolaires des enfants d’immigrés en France et en Angleterre. C’est en concevant la migration comme une discontinuité dans la socialisation des immigrés et en insistant sur les ressources transmises aux enfants dans la famille, l’entourage et à l’école que j’interroge mon matériau empirique constitué de plusieurs enquêtes statistiques de grande ampleur et de près d’une centaine d’entretiens biographiques dans les deux pays. Je décris la morphologie des hiérarchies scolaires en France et en Angleterre et examine la position des différents groupes d’enfants d’immigrés et de natifs en leur sein. Les analyses empiriques montrent l’intérêt d’étudier la diversité des groupes d’enfants d’immigrés, tant l’hétérogénéité scolaire de la « deuxième génération » est forte. L’étude statistique et qualitative des expériences et propriétés sociales pré-migratoire des parents, ainsi que de divers processus de socialisation dans la société d’immigration, permet de rendre compte de cette hétérogénéité scolaire. Au total, cette thèse confirme la légitimité d’analyses sociologiques reposant sur la position sociale et les ressources qui y sont liées pour expliquer les trajectoires scolaires des enfants d’immigrés, à la condition expresse que position et ressources soient redéfinies pour prendre en compte la double condition des parents : émigrés du pays d’origine et immigrés dans la société dans laquelle leurs enfants sont scolarisés

Are migrants a select population?

This chapter reviews research on migrant selection, i.e. how those who migrate differ from people who stay in their country. After discussing the different ways in which migrant selection has been conceptualized in the social sciences, I show that it has proved hard to measure empirically because it requires data on migrants and stayers in the origin country. After significant measurement progress made in the past two decades, researchers now have the appropriate tools to describe migrant selection. Results show that migrants tend to be positively selected in terms of education, other socioeconomic characteristics, health and personality traits. Yet, the level of selection varies depending on the origin, the destination and the dimension considered, but also between individual migrants from the same origin country. Finally, scholars have also documented the positive consequences of migrant selection on their health, occupational status and their children’s educational attainment

Les enfants d'immigrés à l'école:Inégalités scolaires du primaire à l'enseignement supérieur

En France, près d’un quart des enfants en âge scolaire ont au moins un parent immigré. Or, les qualifications scolaires jouent un rôle essentiel dans la définition du statut social des individus et la constitution des inégalités. En analysant la scolarité des enfants d’immigrés, cet ouvrage apporte donc un éclairage sociologique à un enjeu social fondamental. Sur un sujet aussi saturé de discours médiatiques et politiques réducteurs, il propose de dépasser les fausses évidences, grâce à une approche analytique plutôt que normative : ne pas étudier les immigrés uniquement après qu’ils sont entrés sur le territoire national, en ignorant tout de leur histoire antérieure ; ne pas réduire leurs enfants à un groupe homogène, toujours en « échec scolaire » ; ne pas attribuer a priori toutes les difficultés scolaires des enfants à des défaillances familiales, à une culture d’origine incompatible avec l’école ou à une fratrie trop nombreuse. Autant d’impératifs analytiques qui portent leurs fruits et fournissent de nombreux résultats originaux. (Résumé éditeur