Does this May 19 mark the “rediscovered freedom” only of the well-to-do classes?



The measures of this deconfinement mainly concern spending activities and benefiting the wealthy social classes – Alain JOCARD / AFP

  • This Wednesday, May 19, France begins its second stage of deconfinement with eagerly awaited reopening: terraces, cinemas, museums …
  • But do these reopenings really concern all French people or simply the wealthiest classes and the most able to consume?
  • By reopening the public space, May 19 is not as unequal as it would seem.

It is noted on many agendas, this Wednesday, May 19 begins the second stage (after that of May 3) of deconfinement. “A little moment of rediscovered freedom” as Emmanuel Macron said, unanimously expected, to finally find the terraces, cinemas, museums and other gems of social life. Unanimously, really? These little pleasures, however, have a cost that some French people cannot afford. In 2019, before the coronavirus, a study by Statista showed, for example, that 20% of French people went to restaurants once a year or less and 29% less than twice a year to the cinema. So, is this deconfinement only that of the wealthy classes, those able to pay three euros for their coffee on the terrace?

“Deconfinement like confinement only reveals social inequalities”, is not surprised Emmanuelle Lallement, anthropologist of the city and public spaces. For people who could not telecommute, and who are not used to eating or drinking outside, the restrictions related to the coronavirus were not experienced the same way as for others. And now that the country is deconfining, not everyone has the means to “take advantage” of it fully.

Deconfinement as a social marker

With the coronavirus, “a third of the French have seen their income or their activity decrease and are considering months of restrictions in terms of spending, while others have saved massively”, recalls Vincent Chabault, sociologist of consumption and author of the book Store praise (Ed. Gallimard). He confirms that in France there is a very metropolitan vision centered on the upper classes of deconfinement.

However, if all French people do not have enough to eat outside every day, the working classes can also benefit from this May 19. Firstly, it is also their jobs that are becoming deconfined. Vincent Chabault explains: “Waiters, museum guards, cinema salespeople… are all professions in the precarious classes victims of these confinements. “What to regain a salary, but also to find a social life:” Whether it is work colleagues or customers, it is the opportunity to see the world again and to leave home “, advance the sociologist.

Second, “everyone benefits from a more lively city. This gives more people outside – therefore more customers for all professions, more interactions and life, whether we consume or not ”, continues Vincent Chabault. Finally, last point for him, all the possible activities of this deconfinement are not paying. Obviously, the curfew extended to 9 pm, but also certain museums, libraries, media libraries, etc … “Of course, there are still symbolic barriers”, he adds. Shouldn’t more “free” measures be taken for this deconfinement, such as stopping wearing a mask outdoors for example? Not necessarily. “The most important thing, especially for precarious people, is the economic recovery,” points out Vincent Chabault. Not certain therefore that they shun this first return to consumption.

The return of social diversity

Make no mistake about it, it is not because the popular classes are less in terraces that they have not missed the latter. Nostalgia for the daily life of the world before which could have affected the well-to-do classes, the less fortunate were able to feel the deprivation of public space. Emmanuelle Lallement explains: “People from the well-to-do classes could stay with one or the other. But when you have precarious accommodation, or not enough space, you don’t necessarily have the desire or the capacity to welcome guests. The disadvantaged classes lacked public space all the more because it was necessary for them. “

Finding the terraces or media libraries is to find a place of sharing and exchange, even of mixing (while respecting barrier gestures). Because this is also the virtue of public space, and the reason why terraces have been missed so much: they are places of social mix, which is less the case with domestic or private spaces. Vincent Chabault continues: “The reopening consumption spaces are not only economic spaces, but also places of conviviality, diversity and sharing. “

However, the feeling of loneliness during the health crisis concerns more precarious people according to an Ifop survey January 2021. 29% of French people with little income always or often felt alone during this period, as did 24% of French people in modest categories, against only 14% of the upper middle class and 10% of wealthy French people. A feeling of loneliness and a social crisis that will perhaps be able to dissipate a little for everyone with this deconfinement.



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