French Study Finds Children of Immigrants Embracing ‘Frenchness’
The children of immigrants are doing their part to become French. The challenge for French society is to let them finish the job. That was the conclusion of a long-awaited, 615-page report released this month by the National Institute of Demographic Studies about how immigrants and their descendants are integrating into French society.
On a positive note, contrary to popular assumptions, researchers found that a majority of those whose parents came to mainland France after World War II, mostly from former French colonies, embrace their French identity.
Less encouraging were findings that show many of these second-generation French are blocked by barriers — in education, housing and employment — that point to persistent discrimination against the so-called visible minorities, mainly those of African origin. “In a nutshell, they consider themselves French, but they feel they are not perceived as such, which creates a dissonance between identity and acceptance as a full member of the citizenry,” said Patrick Simon, a demographer and one of the coordinators of the study, “Trajectories and Origins.”
Among the study’s most troubling findings was the lack of social mobility among the children of non-European immigrants. “In fact, they experience more unemployment and discrimination than the first generation,” Mr. Simon said. “That was a surprise.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/world/europe/study-finds-children-of-immigrants-embracing-frenchness.html?ref=europe
The study indicates that the immigration problem in France is not so much that the immigrants don't want to assimilate but that too many French do not want them to.
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