“Positive discrimination doesn’t mean anything”: Understanding Black French Ambivalence toward Affirmative Action

Using in-depth qualitative interviews with French Caribbeans of African descent (N=52) in the Paris region, this study examines minority perspectives on the possibility of racial or ethnic affirmative action in France. Through a narrative analysis of their justifications for supporting or criticizing affirmative action, we find that the majority of our respondents expressed reservations over the possibility of quotas and other affirmative action initiatives, with many describing ambivalent views and mixed emotions. In explaining their discomfort with the idea and implementation of affirmative action, respondents point to concerns over the efficacy and legitimacy of such policies, a moral defense of meritocracy, and their own reluctance to admit the failures of French Republicanism. Critics of affirmative action combine race-conscious and colorblind discourse, expressing both a challenge to colorblind notions of universalism and a nostalgic appeal to its rhetoric. With regard to migration status, we find that members of the second-generation express more ambivalent views, while members of the first generation are more emphatic in their opposition. Finally, we argue for greater attention to the dynamics of racial ambivalence in the study of anti-racism and affirmative action.