<論文>フランスのミドルクラス・ムスリムの階級的な差異化に関する一考察

Abstract

While second-generation immigrant Muslims of North African origin continue to be marginalized in contemporary French society, where Islamophobia as a form of racism based on cultural differences is a serious problem, they have become an increasingly diverse group in terms of educational background and occupation. Studies of representations and identities of French Muslims are often based on the dichotomy of power relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, which tends to ignore the heterogeneity of the Muslim population. Based on an interview with a highly educated French Muslim man of Algerian descent, Hakim (pseudonym), who works for a well-known global company, this paper examines how a middle class Muslim differentiates himself from and stigmatizes working class Muslims. We will analyze how he characterizes himself as open to cultural diversity from the immigrants and their descendants in the “banlieues” (suburbs of large cities), where the working class is concentrated. In doing so, we will pay particular attention to the influence of French republicanism, the national ideology that de-legitimizes the notion of ethnic identity and community, and also to the upper middle class culture that is sympathetic to neoliberalism, which is strongly oriented toward educational and economic success based on personal initiative.