Ideologies and Institutions in Urban France

In this book based on intensive fieldwork in a major French provincial city (Lyon) Grillo shows how an anthropological perspective enhances our understanding of institutional processes and ideological forces in industrial society presenting a detailed account of relations between the indigenous French population and immigrant workers and their families of non-French origin. The framework of the book is provided by two linked themes. First the study shows how the situation of immigrants is represented ideologically by various elements of French society as well as by the immigrants themselves in different ways as ''problematic''. Dr Grillo examines this ideological dimension initially by contrasting the discourses of the political Right and Left concerning a range of immigrant ''problems'' for example in the fields of housing family life school language use and work. He then shows that not only are there significant ideological differences within both Right and Left but also similarities between them which stem from certain basic cultural preoccupations of French thought.