Class versus race? Multidimensional inequality and intersectional identities in France

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on a unique survey question about personal identity in France, this article explores how majority and minority populations identify in terms of race/ethnicity and class. While prior studies have focused on one of these identities, the added value of this article is to examine both using a simultaneous equation model. Literature predicts that minorities have stronger ethnoracial identities, while majority members emphasize their class. Our findings confirm this trend, yet we go further by exploring heterogeneity by immigrant generation, origin and socioeconomic status. Guided by theories of assimilation, we show that non-European minorities are more likely to stress ethnoracial identity than Europeans, even among the second generation. Low-SES French majority members are more likely to emphasize ethnoracial items, suggesting a defensive white identity. In contrast, high-SES minorities stress both race/ethnicity and class. The conclusion discusses the intersection between class, race, and migration in France.