To get out of your filter bubble, turn to the French

It is a matter of public knowledge, confirmed by the latest survey that has just been carried out by our British colleagues at Ipsos MORI: most French people have perceptions on immigration that range from quite to very negative. On this basis, one could be forgiven for hastily concluding that France is a country inhabited by closed-minded, nativist individuals.

Depending on who you are, this is a fact you can rejoice or lament. I, for one, will opt for the latter. Reading in between the lines of the survey, however, one realizes that there is more than meets the eye. What if the French were not as stereotypically withdrawn as the survey makes them out to be? A provocative question in the current political climate, and yet… In comparison with international data drawn from other countries, one realizes that in relative, if not absolute terms, the French are — or at least perceive themselves as — amongst those likeliest to demonstrate daily engagement with “diversity” in all its facets.

The French are:

• the least inclined to state that more than half of their friends are from the same ethnic group (just 49% say so as opposed to 62% of Britons);
• the least likely to share the same religious beliefs as their friends (less than 1/3rd do, compared to 48% of Italians);
• the least likely to surround themselves with friends who have a similar or the same level of education (only 1/3rd do, a figure which rises to 46% in Britain);

the least likely to spend time exclusively with people who share identical political opinions (less than 1/4th do, versus 1/3rd of Britons and nearly half of Hungarians and Russians);

• the least likely to claim that more than half their friends share similar views as themselves on the question of immigration: once again, only 1/3rd do

Can we therefore claim that groupthink — whether social, ideological or religious…– is less prevalent in France than in other countries? It could, for example, be possible that the French overestimate the extent to which they spend time with people who are different to them and have hence made erroneous observations and declarations. Yet, this hypothesis is difficult to explain: why would the French want to appear more open-minded and tolerant than their British or Italian neighbours? Or than their American counterparts across the pond, only 1/4 of whom speak at least once a week to someone who has a different opinion on social issues like feminism, politics or climate change?

This topic warrants further investigation, as it is crucial to understanding how we can construct a collective sense of identity and ease the tensions which currently cut across our society. All political leaders know that it is easy to build momentum on the back of negative emotions — envy, fear, rejection, ignorance, contempt are all recurring tropes in electoral campaigns. On the contrary, far more arduous is the task of those who wish to forge links as well as foster empathy and hope — a hope that is not selfish.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem is the CEO of Ipsos Global Affairs and former Minister of Education and Research in France.