“Les jeunes des banlieues”: neighborhood effects on the immigrant youth experience in France

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of the spatial context on populations of immigrant descent in French segregated suburbs, focusing on the youth. The phrase “jeunes des banlieues” (suburban youth) has become a whole concept in itself, capturing the variety of challenges raised—and faced—by immigrant youth in segregated neighborhoods. Our study was a follow-up to the Trajectories and Origins (TeO) Survey conducted by the French National Institute of Demographic Studies from September 2008 to February 2009. It is based on a series of in-depth interviews and a systematic observation survey about the neighborhood. Our results clearly show that neighborhood matters in how young people experience their school system, their interactions with the police, and the way they perceive themselves and their own environment. Outside perceptions of the neighborhood also shape individual and social identities. Overall, high concentrations of immigrants negatively impact the experience of young people of immigrant descent.

Keywords:

• immigrants
• youth
• suburbs
• France
• segregation
• concentration

Notes

1. “The youth from the suburbs.” Immigrant neighborhoods are primarily located at the periphery of municipalities or in the suburbs.

2. Trajectories and Origins (TeO) Survey conducted by the French National Institute of Demographic Studies with more than 22,000 respondents from September 2008 to February 2009. It is the first study by a French public organization dealing with family and geographical origins and it was conducted over a large sample. It also offered a way around the lack of ethnic statistics some academics and advocacy groups have been complaining about.

3. Much harder to measure in France, since crime statistics are difficult to get and present many methodological challenges.

4. See Note 2.

5. Neuilly-sur-Marne is a middle-class suburb located in the southeast of the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis.

6. It is politically incorrect in France to refer to ethnic categories and there are no ethnic categories in the census.