The working class, minorities and housing in Paris, the rise of fragmentations

Which places are left to minorities in the housing and labour markets in metropolitan Paris? Over the last two decades, job structures have evolved dramatically, eroding the formerly prominent Paris working-class, shaking the social and political roots of its identity. These indicators would lead one to diagnose a growing fragmentation of metropolitan society. In the political debate, the burning issue of the crisis of suburbs has replaced outdated debate of the class struggle. This paper aims first to re-examine the interactions between social status and national origins, then analyses the housing conditions of different social strata, and finally demonstrates the pre-eminence of social status over national origins in the pattern of residential segregation.