Social change in modern France. Toward a cultural anthropology of the Fifth Republic

Describes and explains the radical transformations which have taken place within French society during the past 35 yr. Since the late 1950s the traditional social structures of the Third Republic have been transformed: peasantry and bourgeoisie have disappeared or mutated; the great national institutions of church, army, trade unions and schools have declined or severely weakened, and a late and rapid industrialisation has wrought profound economic changes. Even the French Communist Party has become a virtual irrelevance. All these institutions, so characteristic of French society throughout the Third Republic, have now ceased to be the object of major conflicts and tensions. In their stead local institutions, voluntary associations and the family have acquired a renewed strength and serve as the basic network for social relations and social life. Traditional French "joie de vivre' has become diversified, and expressed in a series of varied life-styles. -after Publisher