L’embourgeoisement, moteur du changement social en banlieue populaire au tournant du XXIe siècle

Abstract

Since deindustrialisation, the question of social change in working-class suburbs has been the subject of a wealth of sociological literature. Following recent French research dealing with the spatial dimension of inequalities, this article proposes a conceptual clarification of the sociological categories used to analyse upward social change in working-class suburbs. Based on a statistical and cartographic analysis of the social change affecting the inner suburbs of Paris at the start of the 21st century, this article invites us to move away from binarism when analysing the social transformations underway, and to distinguish between the processes of gentrification (minor) and embourgeoisement (major). In so doing, the article shows the usefulness of linking the theories of socio-spatial change, social classes and social mobility, by combining the metropolitan, local and individual scales. A classical analysis of localised social morphology is combined with an analysis of accumulation strategies to stabilise class position.

Keywords

• gentrification
• working class neighborhood
• social class
• embourgeoisement
• social mobility