Contenu du sommaire : Le monde du travail à l'épreuve des discriminations

A paradox in the struggle against discrimination : the issue of visibility for people who are HIV positive. This article examines one of the paradoxes of the policies designed to combat discrimination and promote diversity. These policies have attempted to improve access to employment for groups who are more likely to suffer from discrimination, in particular, people with hiv or aids. On the one hand, the policies guarantee the right to medical confidentiality and respect for privacy, i.e. the right to invisibility, whilst on the other hand, they require people to divulge a health condition or disability, i.e. to visibly affirm and accentuate their differences, thereby stigmatising the person.

Proof by comparison : Panel methods and the right to non-discrimination. This article concentrates on the development of a method of proof in relation to wage discrimination throughout the course of a person's career – the panel method. It endeavours to explain the trajectory of this method of proof, from its creation within the framework of trade union discrimination hearings to its path towards other types of discrimination and interested parties. The article also considers the possibilities of reinterpreting the phases of capitalism via this comparative proof method.

Agencies and “diversity advisors” in the formulation of company policy. Although companies for many years have generally shown reluctance in acknowledging the level of discrimination and racism in the workplace, those in France have tackled the issues in an apparently endogenous and voluntary way since the beginning of the 2000s by regarding anti-discrimination approaches as the “promotion of diversity”. The purpose of this article is to examine the practical realities behind the promotion of diversity by way of a survey conducted in companies, business organisations and employment agencies. In particular, the article shows that the policies operated by companies, especially in terms of ethno-racial discrimination, have relied heavily on external bodies such as recruitment agencies, voluntary organisations and expert advisors, to instigate and provide the substance. It also analyses the raison d'être and the modus operandi of these bodies, using a double hypothesis in relation to the persistence of a denial phenomenon and a prevailing, assimilationist normativeness which has maintained, even reproduced a discriminatory rhetoric and rationale.

Trade union action in response to ethno-racial discrimination. This article focuses on the positions adopted by trade unions and their experiences in the struggle against ethno-racial discrimination. It relates the manner in which a commitment from trade unions has been developed and the at times ambivalent nature of this commitment. The more involved militant elements within unions have nevertheless shown a greater awareness of discrimination as an activity which has always been sidelined in a business context. The key issue for unions is in the area of power relations, i.e. the type of intervention required, especially in the light of an employer denial which has been heightened by the promotion of diversity in the workplace.

Action against discrimination : an approach that sits between sociology and politics. This article focuses on the work that was undertaken in a public institution to reduce the level of gender inequality in employee career paths. Although the results of our study highlighted the existence of indirect mechanisms of discrimination towards women, the major part of our work in the institution concentrated on using the evidence as a means to remove the obstacles and reach the stage of establishing an action plan. These obstacles were especially difficult to remove once the constraints and inequalities outside the institution had been taken into account.

Student engagement to universities and the inherent tensions : social adaptation to student life, “cobbled together” learning and future projects. For more than two decades, the impact of a “higher education for the masses” has been 1) to reduce the status of universities, as evidenced by a keen interest in courses/institutions for which students are selected, for example, cpge (Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles), sts (Sciences, Technologies, Santé), iut (Institut Universitaire de Technologie), and 2) to further add to the difficulties first year degree students have in engaging with their university. If these difficulties are linked to the low levels of attainment at baccalaureate, they also stem from a university structure which requires students to construct their own role and interpret their new experience with all its inherent tensions. The aim of this article, which derives from work in the field amongst first year students, is to highlight the nature of these tensions across the following three aspects : how students adapt socially to their studies and university norms, how students learn and how students prepare for the future. The conclusions of the study open the debate on the manner in which universities operate and the issues surrounding the induction of a body of students who are particularly concerned about academic democratisation.