This article aims to deconstruct the monolithic image of Muslims that is often presented in the
media, politics, and academia today. Based on interview work completed in 2008 in France with
Muslim activists and non-activists, as well as non-Muslim activists on diversity issues, the article
explores the complex group affiliations and varying interest formation of Muslims in France.
Instead of assuming that being Muslim is simply a religious affiliation that drives political
interest formation, I explore the social situatedness of Muslims in France, and how that specific
situation produces a multiplicity of group affiliations, all with their own spectrum of political
interests, as well as resources and methods for mobilizing on those interests. The article also
explores French legal consciousness – what do these Muslim activists and non-activists think of
law and courts? I show that some preexisting American political science literature on French
legal consciousness may have misunderstood the complex and intense relationship the French
have with law
