Culture of France
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Life in France |
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| Politics |
| Education |
| Economy |
| Arts and entertainment |
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| Languages |
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| Social issues |
| Religion |
| Sports |
| Social structure |
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The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. France has played an important role for centuries as a cultural center, with Paris as a world center of high culture.
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[edit] Schools
Since the era of Jules Ferry, the prime minister and Minister of Education, all state-funded schools before university are free, obligatory and laïque, meaning separate from the church.
At the beginning of the 20th century, France was a largely rural country with somewhat conservative Catholic morals. However, in the course of the century, major changes have occurred: the countryside has become largely depopulated, and the population has largely become de-christianized. This has led to important changes in social morals.
[edit] Religion
[edit] Social religions
The French maintain a very strong gap between civilian life and religion. Religion is considered as private as possible, and it is considered offensively inquisitive to enter religious discussions in most contexts. Communautarisme, the forming of ethnic or religious communities separate from mainstream life, though present, is considered undesirable. French people in general are opposed to clerical power and its influence in policy; the separation of religion from government power is legally referred to as laïcité. French politicians, with the exception of a few right-wing politicians such as Christine Boutin, generally do not discuss their religious positions, and do not use arguments in political advocacy. Religious figures of speech however abound in public rhetoric.
Islamic fundamentalism is considered as a real threat for the cohesion of the French society. Reasons for tensions include the desire of certain imam or other Muslims not to abide by French laws, regulations and customs. Following cases of conflicts about Muslim girls breaching school dress regulations or refusing to attend certain classes, the French government adopted a statute prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols in public primary and secondary schools. These tensions echo earlier quarrels with respect to the influence of the Catholic Church in French society clericalism vs laicite and the influence of the Pope in French public affairs gallicanism vs ultramontanism.
The French public and government pay attention to certain minority religious groups, considered as cults (sectes). This is particularly the case since a much-publicized 1995 of mass murders and suicides inside the Order of the Solar Temple. Public concerns include the well-being and education of children in cults that isolate themselves from the community; the advocacy of medical practices generally considered hazardous; the defrauding of members by greedy leaders; and sexual abuse. Such concerns have resulted in the foundation of commissions charged with the monitoring of possibly dangerous "cults," as well as the enactment of legislation easing the prosecution of criminal organizations.
[edit] Legal status
Following from the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between religious groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public sector. Of the country's 10 national holidays, 5 are Christian holidays.
A 1905 law instituted the separation of Church and State and prohibited the government from recognising, salarying or subsidising any religion.However by the Briand-Ceretti Agreement the state subsequently reacquired a role in the appointment of Catholic bishops which it has conserved. In the preceding situation, established 1801-1808 of the Concordat, the State used to support the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Calvinist Church and the Jewish religion and provided for public religious educations in those religions. For historical reasons, this situation is still current in Alsace-Moselle, which were a german region in 1905: The national government salaries clergy from those four religions as state civil servants, and provides for non-compulsory religious education in those religions in public schools and universities. Also, for similar historical reasons, in French Guiana, Catholic priests are civil servants of the local government.
Religious buildings built prior to 1905 at taxpayers' expenses are retained by the local and national government, but may be used at no expense by religious organizations. As a consequence, most Catholic churches are owned by the government. The government, since 1905, has been prohibited from funding the building of any newer building; accordingly, newer churches and synagogues are built from private funds.
Islam, mostly practiced by immigrants from former French colonies in Northern Africa and their descendants, is now the second religion in France. An ongoing problem is the lack of adequate prayer facilities for Muslim inhabitants. Muslims have no pre-1905 publicly built edifices, and thus must build and support all religious buildings at their own expense. Some local governments de facto subsidize prayer rooms as part as greater "cultural associations". An ongoing topic of controversy is whether the separation of Church and State should be weakened so that the government should be able to subsidize Muslim prayer rooms and the formation of imams. Advocates of such measures, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, declare that they would incite the Muslim population to better integrate into the fabric of French society. Opponents contend that the state should not fund religions. Furthermore, the state ban on wearing conspicuous religious symbols, such as the islamic female headscarf, in public schools has alienated some French Muslims, provoked minor street protests and drawn some international criticism.
Religious organizations are not required to register, but may if they wish to apply for tax-exempt status or to gain official recognition. The 1901 and 1905 laws define two categories under which religious groups may register: "associations cultuelles" (associations of worship, which are exempt from certain taxes) and "associations culturelles" (cultural associations, which are not exempt from these taxes). Associations in these two categories are subject to certain management and financial disclosure requirements. An association of worship may organize only religious activities, loosely defined as liturgical services and practices. A cultural association may engage in profit-making activity. Although a cultural association is not exempt from taxes, it may receive government subsidies for its cultural and educational operations, such as schools. Religious groups normally register under both of these categories; the Mormons, for example, run strictly religious activities through its association of worship and operate a school under its cultural association.
Under the 1905 statute, religious groups must apply with the local prefecture to be recognized as an association of worship and receive tax-exempt status. The prefecture reviews the submitted documentation regarding the association's purpose for existence. To qualify, the group's purpose must be solely the practice of some form of religious ritual. Printing publications, employing a board president, or running a school may disqualify a group from receiving tax-exempt status.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 109 of 1,138 Protestant associations, 15 of 147 Jewish associations, and approximately 30 of 1,050 Muslim associations have tax-free status. Approximately 100 Catholic associations are tax-exempt; a representative of the Ministry of Interior reports that the number of nontax-exempt Catholic associations is too numerous to estimate accurately. More than 50 associations of the Jehovah's Witnesses have tax-free status.
According to the 1905 law, associations of worship are not taxed on the donations that they receive. However, the prefecture may decide to review a group's status if the association receives a large donation or legacy that comes to the attention of the tax authorities. If the prefecture determines that the association is not in fact in conformity with the 1905 law, its status may be changed, and it may be required to pay taxes at a rate of 60 percent on the present and past donations that fall within a legal category close to that of inheritance.
[edit] Statistics
The French government does not keep statistics as to religion. However some unofficial statistic exist from CIA and poll:
- The 2003 CIA World Factbook lists the religion of France as: Roman Catholic 83-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5-10% (mostly, North African immigrants and their descendants), unaffiliated 4%. The sources for this data are unclear.
- A 2003 poll 41% said that the existence of God was "excluded" or "unlikely". 33% declared that "atheist" described them rather or very well, and 51% for "Christian". When questioned about their religion, 62% answered Roman Catholic, 6% Muslim, 2% Protestant, 1% Jewish, 2% "other religions" (except for Orthodox or Buddhist, which were negligible), 26% "no religion" and 1% declined to answer.
The discrepancy between the number of "atheists" (41%) and the number of with "no religion" (26%) may be attributed to people who feel culturally close to a religion, follow its moral values and traditions, but hardly believe in God.
Gallup International reports that 15 percent of French citizens regularly attend religious services, compared to 10 percent of UK citizens and 57 percent of American citizens.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
[edit] Specific communities
The Bohemian history of Paris deserves an article in itself. Many culture icons spent some years in Paris, including Hemingway, Picasso, Toulouse Lautrec, Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett and many others.
[edit] Art in France
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The Louvre is a very famous art museum located in France and is, to date, the largest museum in the world. Before becoming a tourist attraction, it was a royal palace. The first section of the palace was made into a museum in 1793, during the French Revolution. It holds the very famous Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, and Venus de Milo. The impressionist artists such as Monet were from France.
[edit] Customs and traditions
France is noted for its cosmopolitan, civilized approach to life, combined with great concern for style, fashion and appearances. French people are sometimes perceived as taking a great pride in the national identity and positive achievements of France, although many French people would argue that people of all nations tend to do that.The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. France has played an important role for centuries as a cultural center, with Paris as a world center of high culture.
[edit] Alcohol
The legal drinking age for alcohol beverages is 16, even though the age to buy spirits (with more than 21% vol. alcohol) is officially 18.
[edit] Sports and Hobbies
Main article: Sport in France
French "national" sport, is football (soccer). The most-watched sports in France are football (soccer), basketball, rugby union, cycling, sailing and tennis. France is notable for holding the football World Cup in 1998, for holding the annual cycling race Tour de France, and the tennis Grand Slam tournament Roland Garros, or the French Open. Sport is encouraged in school, and local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments. While football (soccer) is definitely the most popular, rugby takes dominance in the southwest, especially around the city of Toulouse.
Professional sailing in France is centred on singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing with the pinnacle of this branch of the sport being the Vendee Globe singlehanded around the world race which starts every 4 years from the French Atlantic coast. Other significant events include the Solitaire du Figaro, Mini Transat 6.50, Tour de France a Voile and Route de Rhum transatlantic race. France has been a regular competitor in the Americas Cup since the 1970s.
The most played sport in France is not Pétanque. The social form of the sport of Pétanque is played by about 17 million people in France. The category Sport Competition of Pétanque is played by about 480,000 persons licenced with the Federation Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP). The FFPJP is the 4th largest sports féderation in France. Professional players play the very competitive form of Pétanque which is called Pétanque Sport, under precise rules. It has to be noted that Pétanque is mostly played in the southern part of the country, while almost unknown in the northern part. Pétanque is not considered as a sport by many northern Frenchmen.
Babyfoot (table football) is a very popular pastime in bars and in homes in France, and the French are the predominant winners of worldwide table football competitions.
[edit] Language
Main articles: French language, Languages of France, Language policy in France
French culture is profoundly allied with the French language. The artful use of the mother tongue, and its defense against perceived decline or corruption by foreign terms, is a major preoccupation for some persons and entities.
The Académie française sets an official standard of language purity; however, this standard, which is not mandatory, is even occasionally ignored by the government itself: for instance, the left-wing government of Lionel Jospin pushed for the feminization of the names of some functions (madame la ministre) while the Académie pushed for some more traditional madame le ministre.
Some action has been taken by the government in order to promote French culture and the French language. For instance, there exists a system of subsidies and preferential loans for supporting French cinema. The Toubon law, from the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it, makes it mandatory to use French in advertisements directed to the general public. Note that contrary to some misconception sometimes found in the Anglophone media, the French government neither regulates the language used by private parties in non-commercial settings, nor makes it compulsory that France-based WWW sites should be in French.
France counts many regional languages, some of them being very unrelated to standard French such as Breton and Alsatian. Most of them are from the same language group (Indo-European languages), and some regional languages are Romance, like French, such as Provençal. Many of them have some enthusiastic proponents among the people; however, the real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. There is also a language completely unrelated to French, Basque. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, admitted formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. The real importance of local languages remains subject to debate.
[edit] Transportation
Main article: Transportation in France
There are significant differences in lifestyles with respect to transportation between very urbanized regions such as Paris, and smaller towns and rural areas. In Paris, and to a lesser extent in other major cities, many households do not own an automobile and simply use efficient mass transportation. The cliché about the parisien is rush hour in the Métro subway. However, outside of such areas, ownership of one or more cars is standard, especially for households with children.
The TGV high speed rail network, train à grande vitesse is a fast rail transport which serves several areas of the country and is self financing. There are plans to reach most parts of France and many other destinations in Europe in coming years. Rail services to major destinations are punctual and frequent.
[edit] References
- Bernstein, Richard. Fragile Glory: A Portrait of France and the French. Plume, 1991.
- Carroll, Raymonde. Carol Volk, translator. Cultural Misunderstandings: The French-American Experience. University of Chicago Press, 1990.
- Darnton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. Vintage, 1984.
- Dauncey, Hugh, ed. French Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press (Arnold Publishers), 2003.
- Forbes, Jill and Michael Kelly, eds. French Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Clarendon Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-871501-3
- Gopnik, Adam. Paris to the Moon. Random House, 2001.
- Hall, Edward Twitchell and Mildred Reed Hall. Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans. Intercultural Press, 1990.
- Howarth, David and Georgios Varouzakis. Contemporary France: An Introduction to French Politics and Society. New York: Oxford University Press (Arnold Publishers), 2003. ISBN 0-340-74187-2
- Kelly, Michael. French Culture and Society: The Essentials. New York: Oxford University Press (Arnold Publishers), 2001. (A Reference Guide)
- Kidd, William and Siân Reynolds, eds. Contemporary French Cultural Studies. Arnold Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-340-74050-7
- Nadeau, Jean-Benoît and Julie Barlow. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not The French. Sourcebooks Trade, 2003. ISBN 1-4022-0045-5
- Wylie, Laurence and Jean-François Brière. Les Français. 3rd edition. Prentice Hall, 2001. (in French)
- Zedlin, Theodore and Philippe Turner, eds. The French. Kodansha International, 1996.
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
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