Contenu du sommaire : Assignations identitaires et différenciation sociale

Pierre Guerlain, The Cunning of Unreason : American Affirmative Action When Affirmative Action was set up by liberals in the United States in the early 60s it was mostly an anti-discrimination effort. Nixon later made it an instrument of racial division. The left, which originally opposed racial, ethnic or gender quotas, abandoned its traditional universalistic stand and its socio-economic approach. It forgot the ideals of the war on poverty and found itself unable to oppose the new forms of racism which appeared under the guise of identity politics. Today the labor movement seems to be recovering and is forging new links with academics.

Enzo Traverso, The Holocaust, Historians and the Public Use of History : on the Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Affair Daniel Goldhagen's book, Hitler's Willing Executioners, presents the Nazis as representing a modern Germany totally impregnated with "eliminationist" antisemitism and in favor of genocide. This, however, is an abusive simplification which neglects strong resistance to antisemitism on the part of a large part of the German population. Beyond the thesis defended in the book, what is interesting in the controversy over it is how it has revealed a new phase in how Germany has come to grips with its own past.

Hélène Bertheleu, From Republican Unity to Multicultural Fragmentation : The French Debate over Integration In France, the term multiculturalism generally refers to a kind of negative representation which seems to reinforce the traditional notion of assimilation. It is advisable, however, to go beyond the simplistic dichotomy of republication integration, on the one hand, and multicultural anomie on the other. This debate must be placed in a larger Western context where each society deals with the political recognition of cultural diversity in a specific way.

Isabelle Rigoni, The Turkish Migrants : Network or Diaspora ? The Turkish migration which has developed over the past two decades represents different forms of networking. These networks are as political as religious and are situated in a large geographical area with Germany at its center. Each ethno-cultural or religious Turkish entity in exil is supported by these interconnected organizations. The existence of these networks calls into question the scientific foundation of the term diaspora when applied to Turkish migrants.

Franklin Hugh Adler, Difference, Antiracism and Xenologica One of the major problems associated with multiculturalism is the hostile divisiveness stemming from newly-articulated contructs of Difference. "Xenologica" is an approach to the question which values difference but, at the same time, promotes mutual recognition, tolerance and solidarity, unlike the dubious universalism associated with the Enlightenment. The pertinence of Xenologica can be seen in its application to the study of racism.

Alain Thalineau, Social Effects of Political Thought on Insertion : the Example of RMI This article deals with the conditions of attribution as well as the political, social and economical consequences of the "Revenu Minimal d'Insertion" (RMI). The RMI is a law whose logic of insertion is based on principles resulting from solidarism. Insertion puts the "beneficiary" in the position to be responsible for his situation : he is obliged to recognize his fallibility and to commit himself to provide the expected "effort" in the framework of a contract. This political thought which appeared in the parliamentary debates of the years 1988 and 1992 is not without effects on the field executions of the RMI.

Mustapha Chouiki, Socio-Spatial Segregation in Casablanca Study of demographic segregation as both social and spatial reveals contradictions of both types in a southern metropole. This is particularly evident in the process of reproduction of social disparities and in social relationships during the period of colonization. Specific aspects include popular expectations, the relation between social and spatial distance and the role played by housing as a factor in discrimination.

Pierre Teisserenc, Presentation of the Article "Development by Culture" The fact that culture is omnipresent in the policies of local development can be explained by the function that culture is called upon to perform at the local level to facilitate the organization and the functioning of a postindustrial society defined sometimes as a "service society". The role, status and functions of culture are modified in this process to the point of becoming one of the essential conditions for the success of these policies.