Conformity through the mobile phone choices of the young French

Abstract

This article deals with French young people. It is about conformity in the private sphere (and how this relates to the “dodging” of politics). My hypothesis was that being consistent with one’s closest network is satisfying and the ability to oppose its influence is favored by a higher degree of general satisfaction, or satisfaction in some activities. Glaser and Strauss’s grounded theory method was used: to its authors, comparing populations showing sufficient dissimilarities allows to produce theoretical conclusions. The chosen object was the cell phone, three different populations got interviewed from March 2010 till April 2011. Three processes (satisfaction, materialism, family) can explain the ability for an individual to oppose within the realm of privacy. When they were combined, only three exceptions can be noticed and could be explained: these processes are in fact causes or manifestations of the “dodging” of politics. Considering the small number of exceptions and the macro level data, questions arise about the ability of French young people to oppose, not only in the public sphere, but also in the private sphere.