Challenges and Discrimination Faced by Minorities in France

This report investigates the experiences of religious and ethnic minorities in France, focusing primarily on the Muslim population. It begins by outlining the historical context of minority groups in France, including immigration patterns and societal attitudes. The research aims to identify the reasons for the increase in minority populations, analyze the specific problems they face, such as discrimination in employment, education, and healthcare, and evaluate the legal frameworks designed to protect their rights. The report reviews existing literature on the subject, examines the research methodology, which includes a positivist philosophy and a deductive approach with qualitative data analysis. The anticipated findings and limitations are also discussed. The report concludes with a summary of the key issues and potential solutions to improve the lives of minorities in France.

Running Head: MINORITIES OF THE WORLD
Minorities of the World
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

MINORITIES OF THE WORLD 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................4
1.2 Project Aim............................................................................................................................6
1.3 Research Objective................................................................................................................6
1.4 Research Question.................................................................................................................6
1.5 Project Rationale....................................................................................................................7
1.6 Structure of the Research.......................................................................................................7
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................8
2.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................8
Theme 1: Islam and the North African Second Generation in France....................................9
Theme 2: Discrimination of Education in terms of Religion in France................................10
Theme 3: Condition of the Muslims Living in France..........................................................13
Chapter 3: Proposed Research Methodology................................................................................14
3.0 Research Overview.........................................................................................................14
3.1 Outline of the Research.......................................................................................................15
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................15
3.2.1 Rationalizing the application of positivism philosophy...............................................16
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................16

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3.3.1 Rationalizing the application of deductive approach....................................................17
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................18
3.4.1 Rationalizing the application of descriptive design......................................................18
3.5 Data collection technique....................................................................................................19
3.5.1 Rationalizing the application of primary data collection technique.............................20
3.6 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................20
3.6.1 Rationalizing the Application of Qualitative Data Analysis Technique......................21
3.7 Reliability and Validity of Data...........................................................................................22
3.8 Ethical Considerations.........................................................................................................22
3.9 Limitations of the Research.................................................................................................23
 Budget Deficit.............................................................................................................23
 Time Constraint...........................................................................................................23
4.0 Research Timeline...........................................................................................................23
GANTT chart.............................................................................................................................23
4.1Research Budget...................................................................................................................24
Budget Chart..............................................................................................................................24
Chapter 4: Anticipated Findings....................................................................................................25
References......................................................................................................................................25

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
A minority group is collection of individual who do not enjoy the same amount of power as
compared to the dominant groups of the society (Horowitz 5-20). The membership to a minority
group is usually dependent on factors such as ethnicity, religion, race, sexual orientation and
physical disability (Mereish, Ethan H., and Bradford 179-188). By the help of the idea of
intersectionality, it is important to note that a single individual does not belong to a single group.
He/she has multiple affiliations and this means that a single person might be part of multiple
minority groups (Bjørknes, Ragnhild, and Manger 51-63). Minority groups basically do not
enjoy certain rights when it comes to all the facilities and resources. The various civil rights
activists have protested and fought for the rights of the minority group as the members of these
minority groups receive different treatment from the members of the dominant group (Sampson
1-31). These minority groups across the world gets differential treatments in the societies that
they live in. they face discrimination in the area of housing, education, employment and
healthcare (May 1334-1352). These discriminations are sometimes structural and they
government often fails to implement any laws that will safeguard the rights of these minority
groups. In this context the condition of the religious and ethnic minorities in the country of
France will be examined in this report. The Muslims face many discrimination towards them that
are except religions. It is in the little things that matter and causes the discrimination. In the area
of jobs, the Muslim people do not get much opportunities as they are supposed to. Of course the
priority is given to be the French population but that does not mean they will be devoid of the

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opportunities that they are supposed to get. The number of opportunities available for them is
very less.
1.1 Background
The country of France has the highest number of Muslims among the other countries of
the western world. The numbers of the Muslim people in France increased because of the
emigration from France’s previous North African colonies (Adida, Claire L., Laitin, and Valfort
1039-1086). These colonies go to the beginning of the last century. As mentioned earlier the
minority problem has existed in the society for a very long time, similarly in the context of
France, the country is facing a lot of problems because of the increase in number of the minority
group. An approximate estimate could be made that in France there are almost 4.5-6 million
Muslims that are currently in the country (Statham 217-236). This constitutes one-eighth of the
overall population of France between the ages of 18 and 50 years (Fellag 1). The Muslims are
usually divided into two sects, Shia and Sunni. In France, the majority of the population is
France belong to the Sunni faith. Although Muslims constitute a small minority in the continent
of Europe, they make up almost 5% of the population of Europe. France along with Sweden has
the highest number of Muslim population in the world (Andre, Virginie, Mansouri, and Lobo
296-313). These increasing numbers have caused a lot of political and social upheaval in Europe.
In the recent years a lot of immigrants have taken refuge in Europe and maximum of these
people are Muslims and whenever there is any kind of disturbance such as an attack or a
disturbance, the dominant groups tend to blame these Muslim people for everything that happens
to them (Ajala 123-133). In the year 2018, a terrorist attack took place in the southern part of
France. The President of France Emmanuel Macron blamed the “underground Islamism” to have
been behind the attacks that occurred. The president has often talked about restructuring the

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Islam community in France and this used a number of problems among the Muslim community
of France (Maxwell, Rahsaan, and Bleich 155-179). With these problems and the attitude of the
dominant groups in France the religious minority of France which are mostly Muslim, the
current state of these minorities is in a state of flux.
1.2 Project Aim
The aim of this research is to study the problems of religious and ethnic minority that
exists in the French society and the various problems that the religious and ethnic groups face in
the country.
1.3 Research Objective
The objectives of this research are:
1. To understand the reasons behind the increase in the numbers of minorities in France.
2. To analyze the problems that minorities face around the world.
3. To understand the problems that the minorities in France face on a daily basis.
4. To analyze the laws that protect the minorities in France
5. To suggest few ways that might help solve the problems that the minorities face on a
daily basis in the country of France.
1.4 Research Question
The questions that this research will try to answer are:
1. What are the reasons behind the increase in the number of minorities in France?
2. What are the problems that the minorities face around the world?
3. What the problems that the minorities face on a daily basis in France?
4. What are the laws that protect the minorities in France?

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5. What are the ways in which the problems that the minorities face around the world can be
reduced?
1.5 Project Rationale
The minority groups in all the European countries have faced a lot of problems,
especially post the attacks of 9/11, there was an attitude of hatred toward the Muslim minority
group (Biggio). The entire world blamed the Muslims for what happened in America and this
negative emotion hampered the lives of the Muslim immigrants all over the world (Połońska-
Kimunguyi, Eva, and Gillespie 568-583). The minorities whether it is the Muslim immigrants in
Europe or some other ethnic minority in the society are not given the equal amount of right, this
has triggered a lot of human rights activist to fight for their problems. These groups are always
treated differently by the governments. The kinds and the nature of their job are very different
from the dominant population. They have structurally oppressed from the beginning of time and
due to this they have not been able to enjoy all the rights that the rest of the society does. The
rationale behind doing this research is that the minorities have faced a lot of problems
historically, no government have been able to correctly tackle the issue of the minority hence the
importance of this research.
1.6 Structure of the Research
The first part of the research will give an overview of the research; the background of the
research will be analyzed. The reason why this particular research should be done and the
problems that pertain to the issue of religious minority in France will be analyzed in this part of
the research. The aim, objectives and the questions of this particular research will be analyzed in
this section of the research

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The second part of the research is the review of the literature. This section will analyze
the previous works that has already been done in the field of ethnic and religious minorities in
will be analyzed. All the research papers, articles that deal with the issue of religious and ethnic
minorities will be studied in this part of the research. The books that have dealt with the
problems that the minorities face all around the world be examined in this part of the research.
The third section of the research will give a detailed account of the methodology that will
be used while doing the research. This research will be done by collecting secondary data which
will be analyzed with the help of philosophy of positivism and the approach that will be taken for
the research is deductive and finally the data collected will be analyzed qualitatively.
The fifth and the final section of the research will be the conclusion of the research. All
the information from the previous section of the research will be summarized in this section and
if there is any recommendation that can be provided for this research will be provided in this
section of the research.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.0 Overview
The growing number of populations, power of increasing purchase and sense of an ethnic
pride among minorities who are ethnic around the globe displays marketing opportunities that is
significant. Racism is more or less a belief of superiority of any one race against the other. It
happens because inferiors are looked down by superiors for belonging from different ethnicity.
The segments of ethnic minority within a population integrate inside a host society making it an
important concern of social sciences since birth that needs to be addressed more frequently

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(Jamal, Penaloza & Laroche, 2015). Countless refugees, immigrants, temporary sojourners and
migrants who are domestic also leave behind their homes and families and resettle into a culture
that is new for varying time lengths. The new comers always find themselves a need for fitting
in, developing a stable relationship with their work, and adapt into the host environment (Kim,
2017). Diversity of culture and ethnicity is perceived as a threat for harmony in some cultures. It
was under attack and by an observation, it is noticed that assimilation of ideologies along with
forced integration has been making a comeback. The French people might have been known
better to themselves and between the white Americans and West Europeans. The white
Americans such as the British and the Germans tend to have a relationship of love-hate with the
French people. Yet the dominance of French Culture insists over watching itself via the eyes of
their own and most of the French people get appalled with anyone into the world who questions
rosy and refined image of French community. The huge majority of minor population has been
experiencing a very contrasting reality when discourses are assumed that an interconnection is
felt between segregation and difference and between conflict that is inter-ethnic and diversity.
The minorities go through exclusion of old and new forms and they actively participate in
producing cultural collection of community, identity, and belonging that relate marginally to
conflicts that are inter-ethnic which further reflects struggles faced for participation and self-
representation in distinct communities broadly(Georgiou, 2017).
Theme 1: Islam and the North African Second Generation in France
As opined by Beaman, (2016) , due to the growing Islam phobia in Europe, The Muslims
residing in France are tagged as ‘Ethno racial Outsiders’ and are shaped into the challenge faced
culturally with respect to identity of the republic of France. According to the ethnographic
research, forty-five adult children belonging from the middle class level of North Africa or the

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immigrants of Maghrebin, it is focused that the practices of actual religion of that particular
segment belonging to the French Muslim population there is a boundary that is symbolic around
all of those practices facing racism. The relationship of middle class North African immigrants
of second generation understand that their marginalization into the generic society frame
religiosity for responding to marginalization. On the other hand, Edwards et al, (2018) argued
that exploring a span of representation of adaptability, as in adaptability within people,
adaptability within languages, adaptability within genres, adaptability within forms of art,
adaptability within historical periods, and adaptability within texts proves that terminology
regards to movements is constant adaptability in itself. This has undergone a significant slip in
the decades recently when racism is concerned.
Therefore, it is seemed that there is some pressure towards the interrogation of the representation
of adaptability and contemporary migration in French and the cultures of Francophone. Such sort
of ethnic representations are obviously restricted towards the contemporary period as argued by
Christine McDonald and Susan Rubin Suleiman, (2010). The cultural history and French literary
has been traditionally considered to be pure and an entity of monoculture but it can be
reconceptualised accurately as a procedure that has encounters various cultures, ethnicities and
languages. France has always been a nation that is transcontinental going beyond the hexagonal
contours of Europe. Colonial France and racism at the root desired of creating a culture that is
imperial which can move all around the globe. Islam happens to be the second religion that
widely practiced in France behind the Catholic Christianity that has worshipers in strong
numbers. In the western world, France happens to be the country with the largest population of
Muslims. This happens primarily because of migration that happens from West Africa, Middle
East and Northern parts of Africa. Majority population of the Muslims belong to the Sunni

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denomination in France. A major and vast number of population in the Muslim community belog
from the immigrant origin. The overseas French region of Mayotte contains majority of the
population. Yet, the culture of France has changed because it was circulated in spite the same
republican traditions. Now, the procedure of a particular center that moves out peripherally gets
replaced by the voice from that periphery that seeks for destabilizing the metropolitan pivots by
calling new understandings of something the term as Frenchness.
Theme 2: Discrimination of Education in terms of Religion in France.
As opined by Miedma, Kaebisch & Wischmeyer (2018), During the occupation of French
of the Netherlands from 1795 till 1813 under governance of King Louis Napolean, the particular
state took over the responsibility for education of the inhabitants and the law of education of
1806 instilled for separation of church and the state while constructing that each and every pupil
should get education about everything is Christian societal virtues. After that the public schools
were allowed offering education that is religious as matter of extra-curricular subject for the
pupils. This was mostly done in a form that had a worldview of humanist education or education
of Christian religion and the religious education of Islam was considered as extracurricular
activity, which only few of the public schools used. It is still the case today. Racism was there in
schools as well. Only Rotterdam do public school is making use of this available possibility. It is
since 2008 that the government is still paying salaries to teachers for this extracurricular activity
be it Muslim teachers or Christian teachers. Gradually when the ethnic groups of Muslims
became accustomed to the society of Dutch, the former founded their specific own organizations
such as mosques, social work organizations, companies of broadcast and unions. Thus, the
Muslim community became an active part in the dominating society of Dutch. Further, they also
became active participants in the politics and few became the members of parliament as well.