France/États-Unis : deux visions de la statistique des origines et des minorités ethniques

Abstract

France’s position in the area of statistics on the ethnicity and origins of immigrants has been seriously misunderstood. In fact, the French public statistics organization is fully capable of collecting and analyzing data on the former nationality of naturalized French citizens or on the national origins of the second generation immigrants and which provide a good equivalent of the ethnic categories used in some foreign countries. Based on the case of the United States, the author examines a series of questions. What does the notion of ethnic group mean? And what kind of meaning can this notion take in France? What is the respective share of free choice and constraint in the self-identification of origins? What practical and theoretical problems does the statistician encounter in deciding on the existence of discrimination? And, more generally, can France consider learning from foreign experiences to make up for lost time in its fight against discrimination?

The International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity

“…As a matter of fact, the law says that keeping ethnic data in databases is illegal according to the Penal Code and can be severely punished. And fi nally, Héran ( 2005 ) explains that the law can actually authorize the use of racial and ethnic data under strict conditions and under exceptional circumstances, which also supports the idea that no new categories need be added. Indeed, Héran says ( 2005 ), the French system uses a pretty straightforward and simple category to describe the situation of the immigrants and French of immigrant descent in terms of their birth place and national origins.…”

“…In other words, they made the distinction of whether the person was a "Muslim French person" or not (Kateb 2004 ). That way, the French census is perfectly capable, Héran ( 2005 ) argues, to estimate the number of "Polish, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Algerians, Turks, Vietnamese, etc.…" who have acquired the French nationality. He says that it is in fact possible to differentiate French individuals in terms of their origins, and describe the origins of immigrants and their children who have acquired French nationality.…”

“…Finally, Héran ( 2005 ) responds to the criticisms of color-blindness by saying that it is not that the French census is blind or in denial or avoiding consciously to recognize race, it is a "active opposition to take the 'visible' into consideration when it is about the fate of individuals." Of course, Héran ( 2005 ) admits, everyone can perceive and see personal signs or symbols of differences (language, accent, last name, clothing, physical appearance) that may connect to a foreign origin, but in France, Héran ( 2005 ) says, there is an understanding that although visible in the public space, those differences should not be taken into consideration legally or practically when it comes to job or university applications.…”

“…Additionally, according to Héran ( 2005 ), there is no need to create new categories when the census already has operating classifi cations. As a matter of fact, the law says that keeping ethnic data in databases is illegal according to the Penal Code and can be severely punished.…”

“…The experts at the CNIL, Héran ( 2005 ) argues, were wary of asking individuals about their ethnic heritage because of the confusion that might result; there may be several ethnic groups per country or several countries per ethnicity. The 1978 law Informatique et Libertes classifies as "sensible data" (i.e.…”