Contenu du sommaire : Se faire de l'argent.

Is easy money so easy to earn ? Underground economy and social relations on suburban estates - How to earn money when one lives on a suburban estate and has little or no access to the employment market ? Is the frequent recourse to an underground economy quite that simple ? The example of cannabis trade clearly shows how the logics of gain and neighbourhood logics create a situation which is difficult to manage and the story of an illicit transaction illustrates the difficult arbitration between these two kinds of logic. The confusion between two types of social relationships operating with different sets of rules and the ineffectiveness of outside recourse in the «world of estates» both provides an intrusion into economic rationality and a decline in the overall social behaviourism of inner city young people.

Negotiation and currency circulation within the family - Even if it is obvious that students and car dealers employ different strategies to «make some easy dough», one cannot help wondering about the future of this money, of its circulation. This is where the central role of the family comes to the fore. Although in the two situations with which we are concerned money varies in terms of quantity, flow and provenance it nevertheless makes consumer spending possible and can be a source of prestige in public realms. And in private realms money remains a constant source of negotiation since it is a deciding factor in the changing roles and status of each of us.

How parents view the cash sources of children - Faced with the money issues of young people, parents adopt a position according to their scale of values and economic situation. What is their attitude towards the money of their children and the way they earn and spend it ? In the case of accepted or incited economic dealings the viewpoint of certain parents towards this money oscillates between two scenarios depending on the source of supply : for money received they adopt quite an authoritarian stance ; for money earned they opt for a more flexible control. If the limits of the authorised money are exceeded, silence is the golden rule.

Playing for stakes : make money and make do - Contemporary games of chance and gambling (lottery, betting on the horses, fruit machines) tend to appeal to people of disreputable background and dubious financial straits, which does not necessarily mean that they are the only ones to gamble. For certain such games are the only way of making up for hard times, for others a way of improving daily drudgery. Gambling is not simply a way of challenging social relationships but an egocentric way of «managing», in relation to a specific social and economic position. But the gambling activities of the player represent a whole system of calculation, expectation, of conviction which transcends the basic exercice of financial gain. Gambling is above all a means of making do with life.

Make money... Yet not at all costs - The illegitimacy attributed to the «money-making» ways of Tziganes and Travellers is due mainly to a misunderstanding of valorised activities. Transcending a single economicistic vision, the study of these practices takes into account the indissociable character of the economic realms of family and community sociabilities. Flexibility and freedom of organisation, no notion of a career pattern, informal in-house learning, prodigality, are just some of the many realities diametrically opposed to increasing regulations and rationalisation. In this socio-economic context which affects their productive dealings, families respond in differing manners, especially with regard to school and nonexclusion programmes.

Material survival tactics of the street underclass - Privation of official employment guaranteeing income and social entitlement leads to three main consequences : self-destruction (drug-abuse, escape into international nomadism), tactical resourcefulness (unlawful means of subsistence, moonlighting, small time dealing, «begging», misappropriation of social funds...) and inclusion on the welfare state register (social benefits, highlighting of stigma to increase official hand-outs). By taking the two latter cases, this article seeks to look at individual survival tactics (begging, use of the homeless category) and institutionalized survival tactics (legal aid).

Young people and the approach to the employment market - Young people have a very classical vision of the kind of employment they would like. Their opinion which is partially influenced by the family environment is based on acquired experience. Students are usually fairly accommodating. But young people living with their partner prefer to have their Sunday and nights free. The less qualified, the unemployed, seek job security but are less demanding about employment conditions. Employment stability goes hand in hand with living together, seniority on the employment market and certain signs of inclusions in the social environment. Over a ten year span more than one out of two young persons wishes to stay in the same region, but one out of three foresee no real professional future.

A university campus at the heart of an institional and social issue - Increasing problems of marginalisation and impoverishment ot the residents of one of the largest university campus in the Paris area (Nanterre). Inventory and social overview, practical recommendations and suggestions for a charge in conduct based on questions relating to the aims of a university campus and the clumsiness of official responses.

The struggle of Algerian youth - Two main characteristics dominate the portrait of Algerian youth, its overwhelming demography in the population and the high level of unemployment (more than half the young people aged between 15 and 25 are inactive). Neither should the sense of helplessness of these young Algerians with regard to their cultures and identity be under-estimated, outcome of a lengthy colonial occupying presence and and of the «mission to civilize». All this goes a long way towards explaining the tense relationship with the language, the religion, the history (or its absence in cultural and educational transmission) and Algerian identity. For we can speak in terms of an absence or a «weakness» in the handing on of historical legacy, of the collective memory of young generations. And so from imagination of young people the myth emerged of a boat from Australia (the arrival of a boat for migration to the southern hemisphere). This latter emphasises their symbolic cultural and material frustration and their fears and uncertainties with regard to unemployment.