L'évitement scolaire et les classes moyennes à Paris

Abstract

As they are more dependent on education than other categories for the reproduction of their social status, the middle classes are said to be those who seek most to maximise their school investments : it is thus no surprise if they are blamed for dodging their catchment areas and for refusing 'social mixity'. Indeed it is those who are most preserved from it who take pleasure in denouncing that situation. As for choosing state schools, they are believed to be the most prone to dodge the catchment area they depend on so as to remain aloof from the working classes. This article tries to analyse the social determiners of school dodging practices in first form within Paris state schools. We will first recall the social division of the school space in Paris and its relations with residential space. We will then consider the modelling of individual behaviours mentioning the relative importance of different variables which may account for dodging practices and match individual choices with variables such as social belonging, school age and the possible interaction between both. In a first time, with the help of a 'global model', social belonging is only approached as just the main four social categories used by the school administration are mobilised. In a second time, the reference social belonging is divided into 24 socioprofessional categories. For each one of them, the relations between school age and dodging are then analysed. Do these categories follow the same patterns or, on the contrary, are school practices transformed within the reproduction strategies of the different social groups ? © De Boeck Université.