The Political Culture of the ‘Beurs’

Abstract

The French-born children of immigrants from the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) are colloquially referred to in France as ‘beurs’. An analysis of the political culture of the Maghrebian minority which stresses the new generation raises several important issues. First of all it suggests that Islam should be considered as an independent behavioural variable. There is Gérard Noiriel’s remark, on previous research on immigration, that ‘the issue of origins for French people of foreign origin had no importance’ (Noiriel, 1987). If Islam is taken as the central element of a political tradition, does one have to compare that culture with that of other minority groups such as the Jews (Leveau and Schnapper, 1987)?