Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France
To Be like Everyone Else
1st Edition
Published on 30. December 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
356 pages
978-1-032-36057-7 (ISBN)
Description
This volume explores the lives and work of those who are kept out of poverty by their employment, but who occupy tenuous social positions and subaltern jobs.
Presenting a score of household portraits - urban, suburban, and rural - the authors examine what it means to 'get by' in France today, considering the material and symbolic resources that these households can muster, and the practices that give meaning to their lives. With attention to their aspirations and disappointments - and their desire to be 'like everyone else' in a supposedly egalitarian society that nonetheless gives them little credit for their effort - this book offers a sociological interpretation of their situations, offering new insights into what it means to be 'working class' in a 21st-century post-industrial society. Combining statistical analyses with ethnographically-based examinations of how changes in the structure of the employment market relate to plans for upward mobility, Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France sheds light on the ways in which class identity - along with all its associated practices, tastes, and aspirations - has changed since the sociological classics on the working classes were published over half a century ago.
As such, this book will appeal to sociologists with interests in the sociology of the family, social class, and the sociology of work.
Presenting a score of household portraits - urban, suburban, and rural - the authors examine what it means to 'get by' in France today, considering the material and symbolic resources that these households can muster, and the practices that give meaning to their lives. With attention to their aspirations and disappointments - and their desire to be 'like everyone else' in a supposedly egalitarian society that nonetheless gives them little credit for their effort - this book offers a sociological interpretation of their situations, offering new insights into what it means to be 'working class' in a 21st-century post-industrial society. Combining statistical analyses with ethnographically-based examinations of how changes in the structure of the employment market relate to plans for upward mobility, Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France sheds light on the ways in which class identity - along with all its associated practices, tastes, and aspirations - has changed since the sociological classics on the working classes were published over half a century ago.
As such, this book will appeal to sociologists with interests in the sociology of the family, social class, and the sociology of work.
Reviews / Votes
'Olivier Masclet and his team of expert researchers have produced an exemplary account of those in the middle tier of the working class today: those who are not so poor and insecure as to be the subject of moral panic and political censure but not so affluent and privileged as to be on the edge of the middle class. They are getting by, struggling on, trying to be "like everyone else", with hopes, dreams, struggles, failures and fears for the future. Embedding rich, detailed case studies of individuals and couples within rigorous reviews of the changes sweeping France as much as any other Western social order, the team skilfully manage to unpick the effects of declining working class solidarity, precarisation and feminisation of employment, changing gender relations and the race for credentials on the everyday experiences, biographies, self-perceptions and self-evaluations of workers and families in the 21st century. This is a must-read for anyone interested in working-class life in contemporary Europe'. Will Atkinson, Professor of Sociology, University of Bristol, author of The Class Structure of Capitalist Societies and Beyond BourdieuMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate and Undergraduate
Illustrations
6 s/w Abbildungen, 6 s/w Zeichnungen, 3 s/w Tabellen
3 Tables, black and white; 6 Line drawings, black and white; 6 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-36057-7 (9781032360577)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Olivier Masclet | Thomas Amosse | Lise Bernard
Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France
To Be like Everyone Else
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€52.99
Available for download
Olivier Masclet | Thomas Amosse | Lise Bernard
Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France
To Be like Everyone Else
E-Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€52.99
Available for download
Olivier Masclet | Thomas Amosse | Lise Bernard
Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France
To Be like Everyone Else
Book
12/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€187.10
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Olivier Masclet is a Professor of Sociology at the Universite de Limoges and co-director of the GRESCO Research Centre, France.
Thomas Amosse is a researcher at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Lise-CEET Research Centre, Paris, France.
Lise Bernard is a researcher at CNRS and a member of the Centre Maurice Halbwachs, Paris, France.
Marie Cartier is a Professor of Sociology at Nantes University, France.
Marie-Helene Lechien is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the Universite de Limoges, France.
Olivier Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at the Universite Paris Cite, France.
Yasmine Siblot is a Professor of Sociology at the Universite Paris 8, CRESPPA-CSU Research Centre, France.
Thomas Amosse is a researcher at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Lise-CEET Research Centre, Paris, France.
Lise Bernard is a researcher at CNRS and a member of the Centre Maurice Halbwachs, Paris, France.
Marie Cartier is a Professor of Sociology at Nantes University, France.
Marie-Helene Lechien is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the Universite de Limoges, France.
Olivier Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at the Universite Paris Cite, France.
Yasmine Siblot is a Professor of Sociology at the Universite Paris 8, CRESPPA-CSU Research Centre, France.
Content
List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; 1 Introduction: Subalterns in a 'society of the similar': A study of the lifestyles of the stable-modest fractions of the contemporary working classes; 2 An exploration of the working classes starting from their middle fractions: A two-pronged approach, through statistics and case studies; Part 1: Stories of stabilisation; 3 Introduction to Part 1: Stories of stabilisation; 4 'We aimed too high': A household destabilised by its residential and professional aspirations - Elodie Paille and Clement Jacquet; 5 Planning life: A strong investment in activities other than work - Laurent Douillard and Thomas Guillet; 6 'A mellow job' and living with a friend: A young, single male worker's adjustment to a subaltern condition - Romain Boyer; 7 Holding on: Sparing no effort to stabilise an unstable position - Veronique Delage; 8 'Getting it right this time': Aspiring to join the world of intellectuals - Yamina and Souleymane Diallo; 9 'You've got to fight': Work as a resource for a fragile success - Mina and Michel Carry; 10 Making a virtue of simplicity: The hedonistic choices of labouring couple - Yvon and Michou Ratelier; 11 A story of social reclassification: A couple from rural backgrounds gone to the city - Mireille and Roger Monteil; Part II: Gender relations and domestic space; 12 Introduction to Part 2: Gender relations and domestic space; 13 Being a mother and unemployed: Resisting being stuck at home - Laeticia and Valentin Dufour; 14 The power of two femininities - Regine and Herve Leblanc; 15 A business that works: Breaking away from the family model, relying on family help - Cecile and Jean-Marc Pilier; 16 An interlude of equality: 'Stephanie is there with the children, she can manage the homework' - Nicolas and Stephanie Fontaine; 17 Keeping the conjugal peace: A compensatory domestic equality - Cecilia and Eric Dufar; 18 Being a housewife: Between permanence and evolution of a traditional role - Nadege and Patrick Lancel; Part III: Triangular social consciousness and institutional 'goodwill' - the reconfiguration of relations with other social groups; 19 Introduction to Part 3: Triangular social consciousness and institutional 'goodwill': the reconfiguration of relations with other social groups; 20 Being a respectable woman: Between the stigma of housing estates and the union in-group - Chantal Monlouis; 21 'Simple people'? A local labour family, between social reproduction and openness - Nathalie and Alain Rigaux; 22 'It's really important to be able to grow': Social ambitions and political disappointments in a working-class household - Vanessa Le Coz and Samuel Bidaud; 23 Always between two worlds: One couple's split local social life - Manou and Jean Audouin; 24 The cleaning woman and the school parents' association: Multipositionality in the working classes - Myriam and Nicolino Sanatanazefi; 25 Getting back to a 'normal life': Biographical disruptions and 'institutional goodwill' - Sylvie Barderon and Enzo; 26 'I've had two lives': Self-improvement work and the infiltration of psychological culture into working-class worlds - Philippe and Marianne Chapalain; 27 Conclusion: Goodwill as necessity: Aspirations of the middle fraction of the working classes and how they relate to norms; Appendix A: Socio-professional categories; Appendix B: Equivalency chart of the primary and secondary educational systems in France, the UK, and the US; Appendix C: Educational qualifications; Index