The Ambivalent Nature of Ethnic Segregation in France’s Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

Abstract

To achieve a better understanding of life conditions in the suburbs (banlieues) that erupted in the 2005 riots, segregation in France is here evaluated for the first time. The apparent reduction in class segregation between two most recent full censuses and the contrary rise in ethnic segregation are shown. Using longitudinal data and observing the residential mobility of residents in the 'sensitive neighbourhoods', it is shown that: most who move out are upwardly mobile; Africans find it harder to move out and are three times more likely to move into the least-advantaged neighbourhoods; the more the neighbourhood is disadvantaged, the more its residents move into another equally disadvantaged neighbourhood.

The ethnoracial context of residential mobility in France: Neighbourhood out‐migration and relocation

“…In France, although empirical research exists on residential mobility among the general population (Couet, ; Courgeau, Lelièvre, & Wolber, ; Gobillon, ), only a few studies examine the moving patterns of immigrants versus natives. Using longitudinal data, Pan Ké Shon () finds that African immigrants have a lower probability of exiting disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and net of socio‐economic factors are more likely to move into them. Investigating ethnic clustering and native flight, Rathelot and Safi () document a robust effect of the share of coethnics in the municipality on the out‐mobility of immigrants.…”

“…With a few notable exceptions (see Pan Ké Shon, ; Rathelot & Safi, ), residential mobility studies of this kind are still rare in France. The majority of existing findings on immigrants' spatial concentration rely on cross‐sectional data that cannot capture household moves, measure segregation at the city level, or concern first generation immigrants only (see Pan Ké Shon & Verdugo, ; Préteceille, ; Safi, ).…”

Forty years of immigrant segregation in France, 1968–2007. How different is the new immigration?

“…Residential mobility and spatial dispersion are major phenomena, even in ethnically concentrated neighbourhoods (Simpson, 2004(Simpson, , 2005(Simpson, , 2007Simpson et al, 2008). In France, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, considerable spatial mobility has been documented, often into neighbourhoods with better characteristics for immigrants of all origins (Bråmå, 2008;Musterd and van Kempen, 2009;Pan Ké Shon, 2010;Andersson et al, 2010), thus suggesting an ongoing, progressive incorporation process. …”

The Myth of Failed Integration: The Case of Eastern Oslo

“…If youth in these areas have an immigrant background, there are additional reasons to expect them to be estranged from society and thus angry and frustrated (Sernhede ). Like in France (Pan Ké Shon ) or Sweden (Lønnå ), urban riots were quickly linked by Norwegian commentators to ethnic segregation and assumed characteristics of life in segregated neighborhoods. We assert that the different but related discourses about potentially dangerous immigrant youths in the suburbs and so‐called ghettos of Oslo (re‐)produce two urban myths (McDonogh ).…”