Why France Needs to Collect Data on Racial Identity - In a French Way

18 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2008 Last revised: 1 Sep 2008

See all articles by David B. Oppenheimer

David B. Oppenheimer

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Abstract

French Constitutional law, which embraces equality as a founding principle, prohibits the state from collecting data about racial, ethnic or religious data, and French culture is deeply averse to the legitimacy of racial identity. France is thus, in American parlance, officially "color-blind." But in France as in the United States, the principle of color-blindness masks a deeply color-conscious society, in which race and ethnicity are closely linked to discrimination and disadvantage. French law, and French-incorporated European law, requires the state to prohibit discrimination, including indirect discrimination. But in the absence of racial identity data, it is difficult for the state to uncover such discrimination. This paper examines how discrimination is measured in the United States, and suggests that some of the methods used in the United States are available in France despite the limitations imposed by French law. In some cases, these methods are already in use. I conclude that France must broaden its use of existing methods for measuring discrimination, and must adopt new methods, in order to comply with its obligation to address the problem of racial and ethnic inequality.

Keywords: racism, equality, discrimination, racial identity, comparative law, France, anti-discrimination law

Suggested Citation

Oppenheimer, David B., Why France Needs to Collect Data on Racial Identity - In a French Way. Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2008, UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper No. 1236362, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1236362

David B. Oppenheimer (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law ( email )

215 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States
5106433225 (Phone)

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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