How are residents of working-class suburbs represented in municipal institutions ? Based on an investigation conducted in Seine-Saint-Denis, this new work from the Puf/Vie des idées collection shows the social shrinking of the body of elected officials, the maintenance of a glass ceiling for women, but also the growing place taken by racialized minorities.
Ousted working classes, women rarefied in positions of responsibility, ethno-racial minorities almost absent: entire sections of the population are only poorly represented in elected bodies and functions. These characteristics of political representation are exacerbated in popular territories, where electoral abstention is high. Based on the case of Seine-Saint-Denis, this work highlights the nevertheless growing place of racialized minorities in municipal authorities, traces the trajectories of the new elected officials, the civic dynamics in which they are part as well as their relations with the partisan apparatuses. The working-class suburbs are emerging as a laboratory for the transformations taking place in the political field.
Table of contents
– Introduction
– Closing and opening of political representation, by Marie-Hélène Bacqué, Violette Arnoulet,
Claudette Lafaye, Yasmina Dris
– The emergence of racialized mayors, by Marie-Hélène Bacqué and Claudette Lafaye
– Entering politics, by Jeanne Demoulin
– Being electede, by Hélène Hatzfeld, Marie-Hélène Bacqué, Jeanne Demoulin
– Conclusion
– Commented bibliography