프랑스의 사회갈등과 통합

Abstract

Abstract

France, which is known as a typical immigration country in Europe, has faced a crisis of social integration for immigrants. An assimilationist policy aiming to induce social integration in France by harmonizing immigrants’ cultures caused a national social conflict because of the request for cultural rights made by a group of Muslims sharing Muslim culture. The social exclusion of Muslim immigrants from North Africa and the discrimination against them resulted in poor conditions for Muslims in all aspects of social life, including economy, culture, and politics. This led to constant disorders and riots which threatened French society. A riot that occurred all over France for 3 weeks in 2005 was a social expression of Muslim immigrants’ anger. France is a country which has allowed foreign immigration for a long time. The country is composed of many races, cultures, and religions. France experienced waves of immigration in 4 cycles: the late 19th century, after World War Ⅰ, after World War Ⅱ, and after the 70s. Foreign labor power grew on a large scale due to a low native population and fast industrial growth. This labor power stabilized the French population and filled positions where French people hesitated to work. France, which is currently strong economically, owes much to the basis of the labor provided by low-paid foreign workers. France is a good study case concerning issues of immigration. First, France has along history of immigration compared to other countries in Europe. Second, Muslim immigrants promote policies for Muslim immigrants and are involved in variety of social conflicts. The third reason lies in the processes, methods, and crises of French national integration. Unlike the discussion on social integration in other European countries, the French social integration model has many implications that can be used to understand social change in Korea, as Korea moves to wards amore multi-cultural society. The reasons why France was chosen in this study are the following. First, France is one of a few countries that maintains an assimilation model. There are two kinds of integration models: assimilation and multiculturalism. The assimilation model pursues the cultural assimilation of minorities and promotes the fusion of different cultures through assimilation with the mainstream. Multiculturalism aims at social integration through the protection of other cultures’ rights as well as respecting the heterogeneous nature of a variety of individual cultures and minorities. Multiculturalism is defined as an active model for resolving social conflicts by allowing minorities to play a role as members of a society. Those models have their own merits and demerits respectively. In the integration through assimilation model, it is possible to achieve the unification of a national identity, but this system may cause the settlers to have difficulty with adaptation and to express cultural resistance. In addition, the main group may exclude those immigrants from social and political participation. Multiculturalism specifically acknowledges other cultures and protects the diversity of minorities in private and public sectors, but it may lead to resistance from the mainstream and a weak national identity. As a matter of fact, no country tries to implement a one-sided assimilation policy aimed at the complete fusion into a single culture by making immigrants lose their identity. Most agree to acknowledge the diversity of minority’s cultures. France is a typical example of a country that seeks to include the acknowledgment of diversity while promoting assimilation. Second, France had no choice but to select an assimilation model. The French state’s policy of républicanisme française applies the principle of assimilation to the theory of social integration by viewing the adopting of immigrants as a basic value. The value of republicanism is realized in two fields. The first one is the principle of the separation of church and state established in 1905. According to this principle, a country must be independent from any religions. The other is that a republic is a complete entity which cannot be separated into any particular religion or community. According to these two principles or values, France rejects the request of groups which are different from “France” and can apply sanctions against the communities that threaten the identity of a the republic for the purpose of protecting the country and its people. The “Hijob Argument”, which entangled France into a cultural war, is a good example. France considered that if Muslim girl students wear hijobs in public schools, it may stand for their Muslim culture and the growth of Muslim communalism, which in fringes the religious rights of an individual. The establishment of “the Laws Banning Students from Wearing Religious Symbols”(La loi sur les signes religieux dans les écoles publiques) is based on the principle of separation of church and state. Third, the assimilation policy that France regarded as successful is facing a crisis. The disturbances accompanied by immigrants’ consecutive riots and the Hijob problem hurt the image of France as a tolerant country. Fourth, the frictions caused by immigrants today is visible in all areas of social life, including politics, religion, culture, and the economy. It is useful to diagnose these problems directly through the French example. We may thus see how such frictions have occurred and were faced in reality, rather than try to predict these problems or seek hypothetical solutions. The Muslim immigrant population in France, the largest immigration country in Europe, reached 7.4% of the population according to the national census conducted by the national statistical office(l'insee, l'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques) in 1999. The influx of immigrants on a large scale makes French people feel uneasy psychologically because they think such an influx may force them to lose jobs. In addition, they believe that the problem may be extended to religious and political fields, which eventually brings about cultural war and even xenophobia. A party of extreme-rightists, FN (must write complete name when acronym appears for the first time), has appeared. Even leftist parties, that have been traditionally moderate on immigrant issues, are now silent about immigration policy, fearing negative public opinion. If we look at the French case, it is possible to reflect on the cultural and psychological differences between communities and to set a foundation for objectively analyzing whether it is possible for different cultures to coexist. This research will refer to academic papers published in Korea and France. In addition this research will analyze and interpret various sources of information including the internet, materials from the French national statistics office and French government literature. The introduction Chapter in this study will deal with the background and purpose of this research as well as the contents and methods of the preceding literature on the subject. Chapter Ⅱ mentions the necessities and types of immigrant integration. Chapter Ⅲ will look at immigrant history of social integration according to assimilation policies in France. Chapter Ⅳ will deal with the political issues and culture wars caused by social exclusion. Chapter Ⅴ will mention the social troubles and crises in the process of integrating Muslim immigrants in France. In Chapter Ⅵ, the contents of the main discourses regarding immigration policy will be summarized as a conclusion.