This research-action concerns the fragmentation of legality in the lives of adolescents and young people on the way to marginalisation. It takes over from the work previously carried out by the town of Gennevilliers. Beyond the local study, the research aims at questioning young’s’ behaviour in respect to law and institutions in a much broader social context.

Gennevilliers, an industrial town of 42,500 habitants in the northern suburbs of Paris, has been through all the processes of social, cultural, economic and political change characteristic of the “red” suburbs and the working-class condition.  It took in and then housed a substantial immigrant population. It comprises 64% of low-cost housing. There is fragmentation of social life due to a cultural breakdown between young people and families on the one hand and institutions on the other.

This research-action has convened 12 working sessions of locally involved educational players: youth services, a local club for pre-adolescents, the child protection agency, project leaders, the head of the Security and Crime Prevention Council, a secondary schools principal and two prevention clubs.
Providing a scientific back-up for the public action measures that the town embarked upon in November 2001, the research brings together a research centre, State institutions and local authorities. It forms part of a regional programme which allows the development of exchanges with other towns and cities experiencing similar problems. 

From the investigative work of a conventional research-action, the approach adopted by the professionals has moved closer to that of a practices analysis group, with the difficulty of the paradoxical process of helping the other without entering his system. Each institution sees these situations very differently and analyses a particular aspect of the situation:  vague perception of legality among young people but also of their own identity and nationality or even seeking refuge in highly structured frameworks, with reference to the Islamic religion and extremely strict moral codes, values and systems.

Institute or organisation French technical and research centre for building and housing (CSTB)
Joëlle Bordet, tel. +33 1 45 25 61 51 / +33 6 60 04 29 32

11/05/2005

Bordet Joëlle

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Integration of social groups