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The French paradox, or a bottom-up modification of integration policy. The republican model and Polish immigrant organisations in France
 
 
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Wydział Socjologii, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Polska
 
 
Submission date: 2023-05-21
 
 
Final revision date: 2023-09-29
 
 
Acceptance date: 2023-10-05
 
 
Online publication date: 2023-11-16
 
 
Publication date: 2023-11-16
 
 
Corresponding author
Jacek Kubera   

Wydział Socjologii, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, ul. Szamarzewskiego 89c, 60-568, Poznań, Polska
 
 
Problemy Polityki Społecznej 2023;63(4):1-19
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The article provides empirical knowledge on the functioning of the French paradox in integration policy at the mezzo level. The research problem is to explain how immigrant organisations take part in bringing out and sustaining the contradictions inherent in the French model of integration. The analysis is based on forty-eight individual in-depth interviews conducted in the frame of grass-roots research carried out among activists of Polish voluntary associations in France as well as representatives of French public institutions and non-governmental organisations. The ndividual in-depth interviews concerned the conditions under which Polish associations function, including the characteristics of France as a host country. The main conclusion of the article is that despite their legal and institutional invisibility, migrant minorities – the elephant in the room of integration policy in France – are able to achieve their own specific goals and forge a public presence through associations operating pursuant to Loi 1901.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Marta Jaroszewicz from the Centre for Migration Research (CMR) at the University of Warsaw for her inspiration during the work on the article.
FUNDING
This article is the result of a project ‘Polish immigrant organisations in Europe’ (2015-2020) conducted by the Centre for Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, Poland. It was financed by the Cracow-based National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) as a follow-up to the SONATA BIS competition (No. 2014/14/E/HS6/00731).
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ISSN:1640-1808
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