FRENCH essay
antonio74123
read1.docx7.1 An Overview of French Society and Economic Interventionism
Multi-ethnic Challenges
Section 1: An Overview of French Society and Economic Interventionism
Le Minitel
Overview
This Section covers the development of French interventionism as a national economic strategy and the way this philosophy has affected society in terms of the labor market. We will also explore the notion of class comparing French and North American concepts of what it means to be middle class.
Key terms and concepts: Minitel, dirigisme, mercantilism, physiocrat, Société d’économie mixte, “normalization,” middle class, the bourgeoisie, “string-pullers”
Table of Contents:
· Chapter 19: Economic Interventionism: The State Will Do (Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, pp. 261-278
· Class Consciousness in France
· What is the "Middle Class" in France?
· Sources
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After completing the following readings, see if you are able to do these things: |
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· Explain briefly why Americans are relatively indifferent to social class while French people continue to be aware of it. · Compare American notions of "middle class" to the French "bourgeoisie". · Explain why the French try to pull strings whenever they can to get what they want. |
Chapter 19: Economic Interventionism: The State Will Do (Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, pp. 261-278)
· What is the Minitel and when was it inaugurated?
· Why were the French slow to adopt the Internet?
· What is the function of the Minitel today? Why was this telematics system never successfully exported?
· What is the main difference between dirigisme and Jean-Baptiste Colbert's mercantilism?
· What is a physiocrat? Describe the doctrine it is associated with and the school of economics it represents?
· What is a Société d'Économie Mixte? Where did they originate? Why have they worked well in France?
· Where did France's image as a semi-socialist country originate? Does that images hold true today?
· What is "normalization"?
· Why does the French State provide so much for the people instead of letting the economy set the agenda?
Chapter 19 is the closing chapter of Part II on Structure. For openers, N-B choose a personal anecdote about the French Minitel -- the early 1980s telephone subscriber's computer intranet connection -- which has allowed everyone with a phone to make hotel and plane reservations, access travel and weather conditions, register for classes at the university, check bank balances, etc. From the French person's viewpoint, as long as you remained inside France, the Minitel provided most of the services of the Internet and so they were slow to adopt it, especially because with so few ISPs competing for the small market of international businesses, connections were very expensive. N-B point out that this was another reason why the French were often accused of being anti-globalization. Today the Minitel is out of service, replaced by the Internet. The story of its installation in French homes back in the 1980s is the example N-B choose to illustrate the way in which State dirigisme or interventionism through the ingenuity and leadership of technocrats was able to transform French society and promote business, serve the local economy, and connect France electronically through a telematics network. Although the Minitel turned out not to be exportable, it was perfectly suited to the country for which it was designed until it was no longer able to compete with the web. Minitel was officially taken off line and retired on July 1, 2012.
Here's a link to a BBC report on the end of the Minitel in France. Link (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
In the second part of the chapter, N-B discuss the history of dirigisme in France, which is usually traced back to the 17th century and Louis XIV's prime minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. According to N-B, this is somewhat erroneous, since mercantilism is really the doctrine practiced by Colbert, who sought to increase France's wealth through strict regulation of the economy (p.266). He sought new sources of wealth, increased manufacturing, and fought wars to acquire more gold, silver, and overseas colonies. His means were mostly through increased industrialization, whereas Britain and the Netherlands were active mercantilists who sought dominance through colonization and control of the high seas. After Colbert, France's industry continued to develop under Napoleon and the creation of chambers of commerce, but the doctrine that dominated French thinking and policy was that of the economist Vincent de Gournay (laissez-faire, laissez-passer), who was a physiocrat. This school of economics taught that agriculture was the only source of wealth and that production must be allowed to flow freely (p.267).
The return to interventionism or dirigisme didn't come about until after World War I with the creation of the SEMs (Société d'Économie Mixte). As N-B explain, his idea originated in Germany and in Belgium as a cooperative effort between the government and private enterprise for the building of infrastructure (tunnels, bridges, highways, waterways) or the management of systems (railways, channel networks) (p. 267). The SEMs have worked well in France where local municipalities (communes) can take responsibility for carrying out the building projects laid out in the overall economic plans developed by the State and adopted by the National Assembly, giving the local governments the freedom to tailor them to their own needs and populations. Through a process of consultation at all levels, which includes sending executives and union leaders abroad to visit foreign firms, N-B review State interventionism from de Gaulle to the present time, pointing out how the Mitterand years (1981-1995) and the nationalization of much of the private sector contributed to the image the world holds of France as a semi-socialist country. In actuality, the government began to reverse this process beginning in 1986 during Mitterand's second term, which continued under Chirac and his first-term prime minister Lionel Jospin. It was through Jospin's "normalization" plan that France sought to return more businesses to private control.
In concluding the chapter, N-B highlight a fundamental feature of the French mind-set: the aversion to trickle-down economics. The State looks out for the general welfare of its citizens, making sure that their needs are met -- and this comes after a long history in which social abuse was flagrant. The French, it seems, use their past as a crucible in which to study and find guidance in solving their problems and planning for a better future for all.
In America, for the most part, social class has been regarded as relatively unimportant. This is due to the fact that entrepreneurialism and equal opportunity for education has opened doors to careers in business and politics, removing barriers to social mobility that formerly worked against minority groups. Upward mobility through merit, achievement, and the accumulation of wealth has always been the American dream that drew generations of immigrants to this continent of opportunity. In this sense, Americans have come to see themselves as members of a vast middle class in which manual and blue-collar wage earners often earn more than their white collar counterparts. Recently, however, the American economy has undergone a dramatic change, resulting in the loss of what were formerly middle-class jobs. To see how this trend has impacted American thinking, check out the March 15, 2015 segment of Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, #Nerdscreen: Class in America (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and take the quiz "Who Do You think You Are?"
In France, class consciousness is more of an ongoing reality, and the gap between rich and poor becomes more flagrant in times of economic recession and high unemployment. The social remedies instituted by the State (Sécurité Sociale -- la Sécu) are the French equivalent of the minimum wage (le salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance -- le SMIC) and the 1988 RMI (revenu minimum d'insertion), which tries to facilitate minimum (re-)insertion into society by providing financial support for three months. (Ensemble: Culture et Société, p. 90)
One group that remained excluded from these measures is the homeless population (les sans-abris). As in the US, private individuals and groups pitched in, creating Les restaurants du cœur (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. in 1985 and Les camions (trucks) du cœur in 1990.
What is the "Middle Class" in France?
In economic terms , France can be viewed in comparison with other countries belonging to the OECD, or Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . It is interesting to discover that income inequality and poverty have declined in France over the past 20 years, which reflects the French social value that the government should strive to keep people out of misery. To read more, click here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . However, austerity measures that characterized France's response to the global economic crisis during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency back in 2012 have had a negative impact on this goal of French society as more people who had formerly made enough money to enjoy life were being driven out of the middle class by stagnant wages to the level of working-class poor. Nowadays, in France, America and around the world, the index of consumer spending is the measure of what is means to have enough disposable income to be comfortable - enough money to take holiday trips, make purchases, and so forth.
Traditionally speaking, the French term la bourgeoisie refers to a social order dominated by the middle class - the urbanized entrepreneurial class of people who make up the middle ranks of the population in France, or la bonne bourgeoisie. It is not defined by occupation per se, although manual workers would not be viewed nor would they view themselves as bourgeois. The typical bourgeois might be in business or trade, live off accumulated wealth, or belong to one of the liberal professions (doctor, lawyer/notary, self-employed), senior or middle management executives. To read more about the historical growth, development of the bourgeoisie in relation to social mobility in 19th-century France, click here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. .
Being called bourgeois has a negative connotation in French society today. This attitude stems in part from the social and political theory of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and those who gave rise to his teachings in the form of revolution. In fact Marx considered the French revolution a revolution generated by the middle class. For an overview of Marxist theory and its consequences in French society, click here. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. In France, if one is dubbed grand bourgeois, it is a hereditary position one has through generations of family holding influential positions and often linked by marriage to the nobility--frequently designated in France by the particle de in front of the last name. Petit bourgeois, on the other hand, signifies white-collar members of society living on a fixed income who are fortunate if they own their own home or apartment. As for the shades in between, there are intellectual bourgeois (bourgeois intellectuels), comfortable or at-ease bourgeois (bourgeois aisés), and even fat or flaunting bourgeois (gros bourgeois).
By the late 20th century, the French came to refer to the grand bourgeois or bourgeois aisés by the acronym BCBG, which stands for "bon chic bon genre",-- the equivalent of yuppies or yumpies as the upwardly mobile Anglo-Americans were dubbed. Like the term "yuppie", BCBG is becoming passé as French society copes with the challenges that are changing the face of the traditional family: more births outside marriage, increasing divorce rate, and the number of single-parent families or new forms of family including same-sex couples. Young people are no longer as likely to follow in their parents' footsteps but rather might seek to forge a new identity, overthrowing ties to traditional ways.
As we have seen, French society has supported privileges and rights since the days of the monarchy. Civil servants in France are an example of working French people who get exceptional treatment under the law. For example, railway employees (workers of the SNCF) retire at age 55 and people working in overseas departments, territories, and foreign countries have been able to get special benefits and salary increases of up to 40% (Ensemble: Culture et Société, p. 104).
This game of pulling strings or passe-droits is played by the elite and common people alike according to the rule of Le Système D and is practiced like a national sport. Of course string-pulling to get an advantage over your fellow man or woman flies in the face of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity", the motto of the French Republic, and so the State is constantly looking for ways to amend these practices. Still, the individual in France will do his or her best to get a parking ticket fixed or arrange for his or her child to be admitted to the best lycée. He or she might be able to get a work permit for an immigrant or a rent-controlled apartment assigned to a friend through the right "contacts" and making use of the barter system of exchanging favors wherever mutual benefit is to be derived.
Comeau, Raymond F, Normand J Lamoureux and Marie-Paule Tranouez. Ensemble: Culture et Société, 6th ed. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1999 .
