Les statistiques, les sciences sociales françaises et les rapports sociaux ethniques et de « race »

Abstract

The use of ethnic categories in sociology : a critical, coordinated presentation and debate. Ethnic categories have only gradually come to be used in sociology in France, and the process has been punctuated with acrimonious debate due to how remote such categories are from French intellectual tradition. Use of them has nonetheless attained greater scientific legitimacy because of their sociological relevance, while empirical and linguistic elaboration of them has remained somewhat uncertain and complex. In his presentation of the issue, Georges Felouzis probes the question of the place of ethnic categories in French sociology from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Dominique Schnapper examines the social and democracy-related issues involved in using such categories. Richard Alba and Nancy Denton present the successes and limitations of the use of racial and ethnic categories in the United States. Patrick Simon reflects on how to describe ethnic social relations.