Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France : To Be Like Everyone Else

This volume explores the lives and work of those who are kept out of poverty by their employment, but who occupy tenuous social positions and subaltern jobs. Presenting a score of household portraits – urban, suburban, and rural – the authors examine what it means to ‘get by’ in France today, considering the material and symbolic resources that these households can muster, and the practices that give meaning to their lives. With attention to their aspirations and disappointments – and their desire to be ‘like everyone else’ in a supposedly egalitarian society that nonetheless gives them little credit for their effort – this book offers a sociological interpretation of their situations, offering new insights into what it means to be ‘working class’ in a 21st-century post-industrial society. Combining statistical analyses with ethnographically-based examinations of how changes in the structure of the employment market relate to plans for upward mobility, Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France sheds light on the ways in which class identity – along with all its associated practices, tastes, and aspirations – has changed since the sociological classics on the working classes were published over half a century ago. As such, this book will appeal to sociologists with interests in the sociology of the family, social class, and the sociology of work. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables List of contributors 1 Introduction: Subalterns in a ‘society of the similar’: A study of the lifestyles of the stable-modest fractions of the contemporary working classes 2 An exploration of the working classes starting from their middle fractions: A two-pronged approach, through statistics and case studies PART I: Stories of stabilisation 3 Introduction to Part 1: Stories of stabilisation 4 ‘We aimed too high’: A household destabilised by its residential and professional aspirations – Élodie Paillé and Clément Jacquet 5 Planning life: A strong investment in activities other than work – Laurent Douillard and Thomas Guillet 6 ‘A mellow job’ and living with a friend: A young, single male worker’s adjustment to a subaltern condition – Romain Boyer 7 Holding on: Sparing no effort to stabilise an unstable position – Véronique Delage 8 ‘Getting it right this time’: Aspiring to join the world of intellectuals – Yamina and Souleymane Diallo 9 ‘You’ve got to fight’: Work as a resource for a fragile success – Mina and Michel Carry 10 Making a virtue of simplicity: The hedonistic choices of labouring couple – Yvon and Michou Ratelier 11 A story of social reclassification: A couple from rural backgrounds gone to the city – Mireille and Roger Monteil PART II: Gender relations and domestic space 12 Introduction to Part 2: Gender relations and domestic space 13 Being a mother and unemployed: Resisting being stuck at home – Laeticia and Valentin Dufour 14 The power of two femininities – Régine and Hervé Leblanc 15 A business that works: Breaking away from the family model, relying on family help – Cécile and Jean-Marc Pilier 16 An interlude of equality: ‘Stéphanie is there with the children, she can manage the homework’ – Nicolas and Stéphanie Fontaine 17 Keeping the conjugal peace: A compensatory domestic equality – Cécilia and Éric Dufar 18 Being a housewife: Between permanence and evolution of a traditional role – Nadège and Patrick Lancel PART III: Triangular social consciousness and institutional ‘goodwill’ – the reconfiguration of relations with other social groups 19 Introduction to Part 3: Triangular social consciousness and institutional ‘goodwill’: the reconfiguration of relations with other social groups 20 Being a respectable woman: Between the stigma of housing estates and the union in-group – Chantal Monlouis 21 ‘Simple people’? A local labour family, between social reproduction and openness – Nathalie and Alain Rigaux 22 ‘It’s really important to be able to grow’: Social ambitions and political disappointments in a working-class household – Vanessa Le Coz and Samuel Bidaud 23 Always between two worlds: One couple’s split local social life – Manou and Jean Audouin 24 The cleaning woman and the school parents’ association: Multipositionality in the working classes – Myriam and Nicolino Sanatanazefi 25 Getting back to a ‘normal life’: Biographical disruptions and ‘institutional goodwill’ – Sylvie Barderon and Enzo 26 ‘I’ve had two lives’: Self-improvement work and the infiltration of psychological culture into working-class worlds – Philippe and Marianne Chapalain 27 Conclusion: Goodwill as necessity: Aspirations of the middle fraction of the working classes and how they relate to norms Appendix A: Socio-professional categories Appendix B: Equivalency chart of the primary and secondary educational systems in France, the UK, and the US Appendix C: Educational qualifications Index "This volume explores the lives and work of those who are kept out of poverty by their employment, but who occupy tenuous social positions and subaltern jobs. As such, this book will appeal to sociologists with interests in the sociology of the family, social class and the sociology of work"-- Provided by publisher