« Qui veut jouer au Monopoly ? » Cultures et pratiques du jeu de société en France

Abstract

Drawing on the results of a survey, this article analyzes the place of board games in the French adult population leisure. There is a lack of such work in the sociology of culture, which often ignores game. The article shows that the distribution of play practices is akin to that of other forms of cultural participations, except on such dimensions as family configurations. Carried out on a representative sample of the French adult population (n=2582) via the ELIPSS permanent panel, the 2017 survey measures the modalities of practice (genres, games, partners, frequency, locations) as well as knowledge of board games. The article systematically examines the distribution of play practices along age groups, family configurations, gender and socio-economic background. It highlights three social forms of play, family play, ordinary adult play, and game enthusiasts.

Keywords

• board game
• leisure
• cultural practices
• audiences
• culture
• game