Since 2006, the French-American Foundation has produced a wide array of publications on the theme of equal opportunity in France and the U.S. From comprehensive, full-length reports to more concise policy briefs, these publications tackle questions about education and employment, while weaving in discussions about the history, legal framework and socio-economic background of equal opportunity and anti-discrimination policies. This section also contains transcripts of several video interviews of French and American experts, produced by the French-American Foundation in 2010. All in all, you will find here a wealth of information to deepen your understanding of the issues.
Get the Acrobat ReaderEquality of Opportunity in Education and Employment: French and American Perspectives
Report / March 2007 / Available in English only
This comprehensive report of the French-American Foundation Equality of Opportunity Program’s activities was the first of its kind published. Written by Shanny Peer, then Director of the French-American Foundation, the report is primarily a comprehensive brief of the policy discussions held during the Inaugural Program Seminar held at NYU in November 2006.
The French Riots of 2005: Lessons and Policy Responses
Brief / October 2007 / Available in English only
In the fall of 2005, France experienced the most significant urban riots in contemporary history, with unrest beginning in Clichy-sous-Bois, a poor district on the outskirts of Paris, and spreading to some 300 neighborhoods across the country. Sociologist Laurent Mucchielli, a specialist in issues of delinquency, violence, and security policy, held a talk at the Harvard Club of New York in October 2007 in an attempt to go beyond the headlines and place the riots in a larger historical and socio-economic context. This brief summarizes the topics of his discussion.
The Collection of Ethno-racial Statistics: Developments in the French Controversy
Brief / February 2008 / Available in English only
A 2007 amendment to France's immigration law would have made it easier for the state to collect ethnic and racial statistics for the French population. The measure met resistance from multiple quarters and was eventually held to be unconstitutional. As Daniel Sabbagh explains in this policy brief, this resistance illustrates the historical and legal differences between the United States and France regarding racial statistics.
French and American Approaches to Antidiscrimination Law
Brief / April 2008 / Available in English only
Antidiscrimination law is one way in which democratic societies attempt to combat the social, economic, and political manifestations of racism. Although France and the United States share a commitment to the value of equality codified in their respective constitutions, the two countries’ legal frameworks for combating discrimination reflect each country’s particular history of racism. Today, racial prejudice manifests itself in increasingly complex ways, from intentional acts of defamation to structural barriers to economic well-being.
Promoting Equality of Opportunity in Higher Education: Lessons from the American Experience with Percentage Plans
Report / April 2008 / Available in French only
France and the United States face a common challenge in the educational sector: the necessary democratization in access to selective higher education. To confront this issue, both countries have put in place affirmative action strategies in order to promote equal opportunity and combat various forms of educational segregation, whether social, ethnic or territorial. Even if these strategies have been historically very distinct in nature, some present commonalities nonetheless, namely in that they privilege social and geographic criteria in the drafting of public policies.
The Equality of Opportunity Program Initiative on Selective Higher Education: Study Tour, Report, and Conferences
Brief / May 2008 / Available in French and in English
In 2007, the French-American Foundation’s Equality of Opportunity program developed a major initiative focusing on education. This project stemmed from a concern that applies to the educational systems in both countries: the under-representation of students from racial-ethnic minorities or recent immigrant backgrounds in higher education institutions, particularly the most selective schools, called grandes écoles in France.
Category Problems: Implicit Bias and the Struggle Against Discrimination
Report / Spring 2008 / Available in French only
While direct discrimination is usually understood as deliberate action expressing a conscious intent to discriminate, the reviewed research within this report by Linda Hamilton Krieger demonstrates that discrimination can also result from the unintentional, unconscious application of gender, racial, ethnic and other stereotypes that people – even well intentioned ones – absorb from their cultural environment. These more subtle forms of discrimination occur because stereotypes function not only as consciously held beliefs about social groups, but also as deep mental s
Social Stereotypes: Implications for French Equity Law and Policy
Brief / November 2008 / Available in French and in English
While direct discrimination is usually understood as deliberate action expressing a conscious intent to discriminate, the reviewed research in this brief by Linda Hamilton Krieger demonstrates that discrimination can also result from the unintentional, unconscious application of gender, racial, ethnic and other stereotypes that people – even well intentioned ones – absorb from their cultural environment.
Report | Equal Treatment in Employment: Learning from American Antidiscrimination Policies
Report / March 2009 / Available in French only
With 40 years of experience in antidiscrimination law and affirmative action, the United States constitutes a major point of reference for French policy-makers. Whether perceived positively or negatively, the American example can certainly make a significant contribution to the French debate on how to best foster equal opportunity. Moreover, examining the American antidiscrimination framework is particularly timely as France has just adopted European-level directives that require developing tools for identifying and combating all forms of discrimination, especially indirect discrimination.
Report | Housing, School Segregation and Intergenerational Inequality in the United States
Report / Spring 2009 / Available in French and in English
In this report, Patricia Gándara and Gary Orfield argue that the basic mechanism of U.S. racial subordination today is neither violence and subjugation nor state-imposed racial controls; it is a system of residential separation linked to highly segregated and unequal schooling that is seen by most Americans as a system of private choices about housing through market mechanisms but which looks very different to many families of color.
Brief | Housing, School Segregation and Intergenerational Inequality in the United States
Brief / Spring 2009 / Available in French and in English
In this policy brief, Patricia Gándara and Gary Orfield argue that housing segregation is a fundamental mechanism of inequality in metropolitan societies and education is the central way that the inequality is transmitted to the next generation. Housing policy is often discussed in terms of its physical features, design, and healthy conditions, but stratification, inequality and denial of equal opportunity are primarily about location.
Are French Muslims Discriminated Against in their Own Country? An Experimental Study on the Job Market
Report / March 2010 / Available in French only
The report, “Les Français musulmans sont-ils discriminés dans leur propre pays? Une étude expérimentale sur le marché du travail,” describes the research conducted in 2009 by Stanford Professor, David D. Laitin, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with French research firm, ISM-CORUM.
Transcript of Interview of Dominique Sopo by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / January 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Dominique Sopo, president of SOS Racisme, the most influential grassroots organization in France, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five French experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Louis-Georges Tin by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / January 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Louis Georges Tin, Vice President of the Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (translated: Representative Council of Black Associations), and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five French experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of François Héran by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / January 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between François Héran, former director of INED (French National Institute of Demographic Studies) and president of the Comité pour la Mesure et l’Évaluation de la Diversité et des Discriminations (translated: Committee for the Measuring and Evaluation of Diversity and Discriminations), and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program.
Transcript of Interview of Richard Descoings by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / February 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Richard Descoings, director of Sciences Po, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five French experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Gwénaële Calvès by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / January 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Gwénaële Calvès, professor of law at Université de Cergy-Pontoise, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five French experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Jerome Karabel by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / April 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Jerome Karabel, professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five American experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Jeffrey Rosen by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / April 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Jeffrey Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five American experts on the theme of equal opportunity.
Transcript of Interview of Kenneth Prewitt by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / April 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of a video interview between Kenneth Prewitt, professor of public affairs at Columbia University and former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five American experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Devah Pager by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / April 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of an interview between Devah Pager, Associate Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, and Daniel Sabbagh, Senior Research Fellow at CERI – Sciences Po and scientific advisor to the Equality of Opportunity Program. This conversation was part of a series of interviews produced by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five American experts on the theme of equal opportunity. The following themes were discussed:
Transcript of Interview of Dennis Parker by Daniel Sabbagh
Interview Transcript / April 2010 / Available in French and in English
This is the transcript of an interview between Dennis Parker, director of the Racial Justice Program at ACLU, and Daniel Sabbagh, scientific advisor for the Equality of Opportunity Program and Director of Research at CERI – Sciences Po. This conversation was part of a series of interviews filmed by the French-American Foundation between Daniel Sabbagh and five American experts on the theme of equality of opportunity in education and employment. The following themes were discussed:
Brief | Equal Treatment in Employment: Learning from American Antidiscrimination Policies
Brief / March 2009 / Available in French and in English
With 40 years of experience in antidiscrimination law and affirmative action, the United States constitutes a major point of reference for French policy-makers. Whether perceived positively or negatively, the American example can certainly make a significant contribution to the French debate on how to best foster equal opportunity. Moreover, examining the American antidiscrimination framework is particularly timely as France has just adopted European-level directives that require developing tools for identifying and combating all forms of discrimination, especially indirect discrimination.
Headscarves, Hairstyles and Culture as a Civil Right: A Critique
Report / May 2011 / Available in French and in English
In this paper, Professor Richard Ford (Stanford Law School) argues that the American experience with civil rights – requiring the accommodation of distinctive group practices and cultural affections – largely vindicates France’s concerns over the recent headscarf controversy.
Media and Immigration
Report / June 2011 / Available in English only
As part of two symposia organized in 2009 and 2010, the French-American Foundation addressed the heated issue of the characterization of immigration and immigrants in the North American and European media. The participants of the symposia – prominent North American and European reporters, scholars and other immigration experts – gathered in Paris and Miami to discuss this topic as well as to examine best practices. This report presents the highlights of the discussions and provides a series of key takeaways and recommendations.
