Decolonization immigrations and the social origins of the second generation:

The case of North Africans in France

by

Richard Alba

Department of Sociology

State University of New York at Albany

and

Roxane Silberman

LASMAS-IDL

CNRS, Paris

This research was accomplished while the first author was in residence as a

chercheur associé at LASMAS-IDL laboratory in Paris. His participation was

supported by funds from CNRS and by a Guggenheim Fellowship. The authors

are grateful for the assistance of Irène Fournier-Mearelli and Marie-Odile

Lebeaux in the preparation of census micro-data files. Louis-André Vallet

was a source of sound advice throughout the project. The general advice of

Michèle Tribalat is also appreciated.

ABSTRACT

Immigrations resulting from decolonization challenge the ability of

researchers to track accurately the incorporation of the second generation

through classifications based on country of origin. In this paper, we

consider a classic example of such an immigration-from North Africa to

France at the time of and after the independence of Algeria, Morocco, and

Tunisia. This immigration was ethnically complex, composed--to take a

rough cut--of the former colonists of European background (the pieds noirs)

and low-wage laborers belonging to the indigenous population (the

Maghrebins). An historical review indicates that the key to distinguishing

these two groups lies in the exact citizenship status of the immigrants, for

the former colonists were French by birth and the others generally were not.

Analyzing micro-level data from the censuses of 1968, 1975, 1982, and 1990,

we apply this distinction to the family origins of the second generation,

born in France in the period 1958-1990. We show that the pied-noir

population exhibits signs of rapid integration with the native French, while

the Maghrebin population remains apart. A logistic regression analysis

reveals that, based on a few characteristics of their parents, one can

distinguish the Maghrebin from the pied-noir second generations with a high

degree of accuracy. This finding demonstrates the sharp social distinction

between the two groups and suggests a method for future research on their

incorporation.