Policy Brief 220 - The inclusion of ethnic and cultural public action, a comparative approach (April 2011)
Contents
- The measurement of diversity and discrimination
- The fight against discrimination and promoting diversity
The French republican context is very attentive to the principle of equality and neutrality in relation to any criterion of the origin or religion. This is, according to current terminology, a model of "color-blind". Other countries insist instead on an approach "color-conscious" in their view, this approach would allow one hand to fight effectively against discrimination and also to promote "living together" through the recognition of specific cultural.
In France, this issue is hotly contested. For some, the focus on the origin of individuals is likely to mask the problems of social inequality. The risk is also to assign identities to those not selected, or to help promote a model "communitarian". For others, this consideration is rather a condition for successful integration and success in the fight against discrimination. In fact, several devices are already based on criteria "ethnic" or "cultural", more or less assumed.
In order to inform the French thinking on these issues, this paper examines some foreign experience to present the trade-offs between the application of universal rules and consideration of the differences. This requires, firstly, the study of the objectives of these actions, their procedures (identification of target audiences, description of devices) and estimates available on the other hand, the analysis tools measuring diversity and discriminatory treatment.
This note shows that, in France as in other countries, questions of identity are closely linked to social and economic issues.
- Authors: Naomi Houard and Marie-Cécile Naves , Department of Social Affairs, Centre for Strategic Analysis.
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