Intercultural differences : what the French like the best! (#7)

Why do the French like the State so much ? Read the story of Executive Life how can they pay so many taxes ? Some typical French values among many other intercultural differences : the importance of historical references, food, etc....

Some typical French values		The French and the State
Abstraction : writes Salvador de Madariaga : " The collective life of the Frenchman is controlled by this fact : the Frenchman regulates his conduct and judges that of others by means of intellectual standards " (and he opposes the Englishman who focuses on action and the Spaniard on soul to the Frenchman who emphasizes thought). Everyone knows jokes such as "It is not good : it is consistent with the facts but not with the theory..." etc... This why the French are notoriously good in mathematics, one of the few domains where they can challenge the USA. Anti-communautarism : France sees as morally unacceptable the maintenance of separate communities (Jewish, Arab, Polish, Greek). This policy, called " communautarism ", is very unpopular and largely rejected. In France, no group can declare religious freedom or respect of religious traditions as a mean for maintaining a lifestyle, schooling or social customs that would be visibly different than that of the majority. Therefore, many groups, such as the Amish, which are perfectly natural in the U.S. would be considered a separatist group in France. For Americans, who believe each group should maintain and even accentuate its differences, the French attitude represents a lack of democracy. The French believe, on the contrary, that forming a common nation and a common culture comes from a desire to be different from one's origins and to strive for the higher goal of "melting " into one nation with the same schools, the same language, and that all people are French (in France minorities do not describe themselves as African-French, Chinese-French, etc.). This is why the proportion of immigrants who get French nationality is among the highest in the world (read more about naturalization). This is also why it is forbidden by law to collect any data relative to race, religion, sexual orientation, etc... For example in a French cemetery, you rarely find a Jewish or Muslim quarter : we're all equal (especially when dead...). Along with the French vision of religious freedom, this is the reason for the law on the Islamic veil : no ostensible signs of religious differences in the public schools. See a few examples of unacceptable provocations, in the name of religious freedom. Another example : in June 2008 a court in Northern France voided a marriage on the grounds that the bride had hidden to her would-be husband that she was not a virgin. The (Muslim) husband pleaded that, the marriage being a contract, the law on contracts should be applied : if a contractor hids "a substantial part " about the nature of the contract, it is void and has never existed. It was not a divorce but an nullification. The entire country was horrified (73% "very shocked") and the Minister of Justice Rachida Dati appealed the decision. For a large majority of the French, a minority of obtuse religious fanatics must not set its own rules under the protection of the law, which must be the same for all. And, in the name of "laicité" (secularism), religious beliefs (or superstitions) must not found a court decision. This vision is very different from American and British visions ; see comparative figures : French Muslims feel more French (42%) than British Muslims feel British (7% only) and a comparative European study. Authority : A Top-Down country : the French value authority and the whole French society is built on a Top-Down model : an omnipresent and regal state, the importance of political life as compared to social life, corporate life patterns often similar to army patterns, etc.. An example of the division of the French over Authority vs. Responsibility is the policy for Public Housing. In France, there is a law that requires cities to offer 20% of public housing to their citizens. If they don't, they must pay each year a penalty of Euros 153 per missing dwelling unit to the State, to fund public housing elsewhere. Rich cities prefer to pay the penalty rather than build public housing on their very expensive land (for instance the affluent suburb of Neuilly : 2,9 % vs a national average of around 25% of public housing). For the Right, this is an intelligent system : local authorities are free and know the cost of their decision. For the Left, this is a shame and a scandalous privilege (one more) for the wealthiest who can escape their duty of solidarity, just because they can afford it : it would be more fair to use legal means to force the cities to build a certain number of public housing. The same situation occurs with companies who can either hire a quota of handicapped people or pay a penalty for each reserved job not occupied. The Right and the Left are in opposition over this for the same reasons. Those examples (and many others) illustrate that many people in France prefer to rely on the State than on the market.		Contrary to the Americans, the French love the State. The history of France is the history of the building of the state. Being a civil servant is an esteemed position. The State is like the medieval lord : both feared and protective. When something goes wrong, the first move is to ask the State to do something and all strikers demand the state to "do something". Until 2004, there was still a Commissariat Général du Plan (National Planning Agency), when its functions had been reduced to nothing. The French expect from the state protection and equality. According to a poll (CEVIPOF, 2005), to the question : "What do you expect from the State?" the answers are : "equal opportunity : France 57% (USA 83%", "equal distribution of wealth : France 40% (USA 15%). More about equality. The State must be involved. In the USA, general interest is the sum of individual interests ; in France, there is a general interest above all individual interests and it is the responsibility of the state to identify and defend it. A few years ago, Socialist Prime Minister Jospin was asked what he would to to prevent a big company from laying-off several hundred workers ; his answer " The State cannot do everything " caused a huge scandal and is considered one the major reasons for his unexpected defeat at the 2002 presidential election. Read my editorial about the 2007 US sub-prime disaster. Almost 30% of the French work for the "public sector" (state and local authorities, hospitals, schools, state-owned companies and utilities etc.). One French family out of five lives in public housing. Employees of state-owned utilities enjoy enormous advantages over employees of public firms, for instance for retirement. More about the "fonctionnaires" (civil servants). The French consider that it is the government's responsibility to ensure good social and economic conditions and the State is almost always involved in labor disputes and strikes. Unlike Americans, most French people consider the State a protection against the hazards of life and not a burden. It is its duty to protect the "weak" (for example : the tenant) against the "strong" (the owner) : read about renting. Its field of responsibility is therefore enormous and obviously, it generates a lot of taxes and a heavy bureaucracy. The French consider that many sectors should not be open to free competition and should remain in the hands of the State : for instance, gambling or the resistance to certain privatizations (postal service, electric utilities, etc...) In France, the three most prestigious "grandes écoles" offer curriculums leading to careers as civil servants : Ecole Normale Supérieure (for the highest level of University professors), Ecole Polytechnique (for top levels of of technical responsibilities and management of state-owned firms) and Ecole Nationale d'Administration (for highest levels in the state administration and judiciary bodies). The best and brightest students try to enter one of these schools (which are small : less than 400 students a year in the largest). The French are proud of many state-run or state-driven technical achievements and the state is efficient for such major projects : the fast train program (TGV), the nuclear electricity program, minitel project, Ariane, Airbus,... They are also very attached to their Social Security system, which is NOT socialized medicine but where it is considered the responsibility of the state to keep it going. Read my column "Socialized medicine : give me a break". Most French Presidents like to leave their mark with a monument: the late President Mitterrand was responsible for most of the "Grands Projets": Le Grand Louvre, the Opéra Bastille, la Grande Bibliothèque; under President Giscard d'Estaing, the former Orsay train station was transformed into the Musée d'Orsay ; the late President Georges Pompidou, who was a lover of modern art, had Beaubourg (the Centre Pompidou) constructed, and Jacques Chirac had the Musée du Quai Branly (opened 2006). More in Historical Paris. National unity AGAINST the state : the only case in which the French feel strongly about fraternity (for instance, blinking their headlights to warn you that there are cops ahead and you should slow down).
In a top-down society, being the boss (or the king) is not always fun and you must be ready to be treated by your employees (or by your fellow-citizens) like parents are treated by their children if their education is too strict. In political life, citizens tend to answer the president " you are talking about the deficit of the budget : it's your problem, not ours ". In transport companies, strikers might say to the government (over the heads of their bosses) " Just satisfy our demands : it is YOUR fault if millions of people have to walk to their work when we're on strike ". Read how I got a bad grade at Columbia with a typical French answer. Citizens are children ! In 1986, after the disaster in Tchernobyl, a dangerous radioactive cloud passed above all of Europe. The French were afraid and asked the King. Read what happened. Another example : when they talk about national policy or local life, the French always say "they..." and never say "we...". Being Different : the French do not feel uncomfortable in situations where they are alone against everybody else. For them, it is rather a presumption of being right. Needless to say that "consensus" is not an objective... Fraternity is understood more like a social and collective responsibility than an individual duty. This is consistent with the power of the State, the social agreement that the State is in charge of ensuring a minimum level of fraternity among the citizens and the fact that donations in France are at least seven times smaller than in the USA (but taxes are higher...). More about charities in France. Intelligence : the French highly value intelligence in itself : you can always say that you admire someone who "failed everything but is so intelligent" (a recent example is former media tycoon Jean Marie Messier) ; this comment (like the following) is indeed a stereotype, but there is certainly something useful in it to understand the French. Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité is the motto of France: Article 1 of the French Constitution stipulates " La France est une république indivisible, laïque, démocratique et sociale " which means " France is a republic (but sometimes, the president thinks he is a king) indivisible (this is why it is so difficult to make any regional reforms : see Corsica), secular (read about the Islamic veil), democratic (no question) and social (that is why a humorist once said that France is the only country which succeeded in building a communist society) ". The French value "égalité" above everything a classical image is the story of an American and a Frenchman watching someone driving a Rolls-Royce : the first one wishing he could drive such a car when the latter wants this too-lucky fellow to be forced to drive a smaller car. Read a wonderful anecdote about it. Someone said that the French concept of equality is to chop off any head that stands out in a crowd! As an image (very exaggerated!), one could say that Americans value equality on the departure line when the French value it on the arrival line ! Among many, the examples of "collège unique" or "carte scolaire" show that in schools, the French value (formal) equality more than anything else : you cannot put in different classes children who speak French and children who don't, you cannot send you kid to a better high school far from where you live, etc... For the same reason, collecting or using ethnic statistics is forbidden by French law Most French people are against the idea of paying a variable part on salarty and any form of bonus is generally considered an offence to equality. Many people think that, whatever the performance, veryone in the same position should get the same salary. In the name of "égalité", there is no selection to go to college : The President of the university recently mentionned in an article the drop-out rate at the Sorbonne : 73% the first year, 47% the second year, 42% the third year. This is the price of the myth of "No selection" in terms of available income, some countries are "more unequal" (USA) than others (Sweden) and inequality has progressed everywhere over the past 25 years except in France : see detailed figures back to France after the Revolution, French writer Chateaubriand noted "the French have a passion for equality, not for liberty" : for the French, ensuring equality is the role of the State.		The state has a word to say in many decisions in which it would not be involved in other countries : for instance, the period where bargain prices are legal ("les soldes") are decided by the "préfet" (i.e. the State). The reason is the belief that unregulated competition would lead some competitors to ruin and that the role of the state is to protect the citizen including against himself. It is absurd but it is a strong common value in France ! Most of the French myths are linked to the role of the State. Read why the States decides about the vacations of your baker and more examples.  The French love the state more than any other country but they are not alone. In Europe, the image of the State and the idea that it must be active to counterbalance the power of the market is a shared value : see a fascinating chart about it and read about the French "exception culturelle". Executive Life : an example of a VERY French disaster...The story : in 1993, a French state-owned bank, Crédit Lyonnais, had the (very good) idea of buying a bankrupt California insurance company whose junk-bonds portfolio looked promising. . At this time, according to California regulations, banks were not allowed to buy an insurance company (it would be perfectly legal now) so Credit Lyonnais designed a structure by which another non-banking company would buy it on its behalf. This is a very frequent, if not legal, way to do ("portage" i.e. fronting). Everything went all right and the junk-bond porfolio turned out to be a goldmine. The purchasers, who included French billionnaire François Pinault, were delighted and nobody lost any money on it. A good (borderline) business story. What happened next ? 1. In 1999 a French businessman, jealous of Pinault, revealed the story and provided a Californian prosecutor with evidence of the illegal "portage". 2. Credit Lyonnais did not take it seriously and thought that a phone call from the President of France to Bill Clinton would stop the whole thing. 3. The judge offered a fine and a settlement for a few tenth of millions of dollars but the French parties involved (the State, the Bank, Pinault, etc) did not put their acts together and did not negociate 4. Years later (September 2003), it became very serious and the French Ministry of Finance signed a settlement for $ 585 million but since it did not include Pinault, they denied it shortly afterward 5. The whole story has become an excellent opportunity for the Californian prosecutor (who wants a political carreeer), it is the deal of the century for US lawyers, a serious threat to the US banking license of Crédit Lyonnais ; the whole story will cost a fortune (more than one billions $) to the French taxpayer Conclusions on these various points : 1. The French manage to hate each other much more than they hate the rest of the world 2. The French believe in the power of kings on everything 3. The French are unable to agree among themselves (see 1) and do not at all understand the US judicial system (read about the French judicial system) 4. If you are a friend of the king of France, he will stand for you whatever the cost : Pinault is a friend of Chirac 5. In business, the French as as good (or better) than anyone else but their management is lousy and in France, the taxpayer doesn't count Read my personal opinion about it.
Liberty : d'Iribarne gives a very interesting compared definition of liberty ; roughly, it goes like that : for anglo-saxons (USA and UK, with Locke), liberty is linked to property and is associated to being protected by the law against any intrusion into the man's rights for the Germans (Kant), the free man is the one who, inside a community, is involved in collective decisions and accepts to be submitted to them for the French, a free man is the one who detains the rights which, previously, were the privilege of nobility : liberty is to become noble...		DID YOU KNOW THAT....This love of the French for the State has a deep historical background : the word "colbertisme" means industrial policy driven by the state and comes from the name of the prime minister of Louis XIV the Sun King, Jean Baptiste Colbert. A classical joke is to say that France is the only successful communist country.   Taxes in France...
Logic : for the French, there is nothing more important than being "logique" and they pride themselves on being cartesians (from 17th century philosopher René Descartes, a natural symbol of clarity, rationality and reasonableness) i.e. intellectually consistent as opposed to pragmatic. Even if your conclusion is pragmatic, efficient, cost-effective, etc..., when a Frenchman says "it is not logical", do not expect him to agree with you until you have addressed this objection. Remember the classical joke about the French : "the facts do not match the theory : let's change the facts". Read about the metric system. Pleasure is not at all associated with guilt. If you're having fun, good for you, don't feel bad about it. And nor is it associated with labor and a learning effort. If you want to improve your sex life don't sign up for a course and take notes : change your boyfriend/girlfriend. This is why food is so important : no guilt to enjoy it and no boring recipes and courses ; for the French it is simply a pleasure. Forget recipes, boring "foodies", etc... That's why the French do not understand the question when an American waiter asks "Are you still working on it?" instead of "Are you enjoying it?" or (better) leaving you alone... More about French attitudes, food and French "Art de Vivre".. Privacy : the French do not like to mix professional and personal life and what may appear normal in American corporate life may be felt as an untolerable intrusion in privacy; Michael Johnson gives an excellent example of an American boss goofing about it ! The legislation on protection of privacy is very strict ; examples : each person has the right to forbid the diffusion of his/her image, even taken in a public place, in a newspaper or on TV, any file concerning any personal data must be declared to a specific regulatory body (Commission Nationale Informatique et Liberté - CNIL), etc... The French do not like questions about private matters and will not let you visit their house (unless you've known them for ten years). CNIL's regulation is stricter than most Western regulations (for instance, in 2005, CNIL opposed the application in France of some provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley law (whistle-blowing) on the ground that it would generate data files which would no be accessible to the persons involved. In the recent past, several issues (among others) have been rather controversial : itemized phone bills (" why should my spouse know who I call ? ") external electricity meters (" why should my neighbor know how much electricity I use ? ") genetic paternity tests are illegal, unless requested by a court what is more private that your name ? Do not be surprised if the French do not give their name as spontaneously as Americans : for them, it is not being rude, it is keeping privacy. Universalism : the French believe very sincerely that France brought eternal values to the world : the Rights of Man, democracy, equality, etc... and that this is acknowledged worldwide. They think that the State must ensure that no mercantile interest should spoil what they have to bring to the world : that is why , for instance, education must remain public and cut from the economic world. Read an anecdote about the "superiority" of the French university over the American university. War : the French love quarelling, class struggle is omnipresent in their political life, they do not believe that a win-win situation can exist ("If you win, I lose") : do not expect to reach a consensus easily.... Roman and Greek writers already gave the same comments about the Gauls. Writing : The French value writing and presidents and politicians publish books, often on non-political subjects : in the middle of the Iraq crisis, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin published an 800-page book on poetry (Eloge des voleurs de feu) while he was having all his nasty arguments with Donald Rumsfeld (and a few others...). See a comparative poll and some examples of curious (for Americans) French behavior and see a poll illustrating that free enterprise and market economy are NOT among French values !		France has one of the highest level of taxes in Europe (with Sweden : see numbers) particularly on high salaries, approximately 50% higher than in the States. Key reason : tthe reason is that the State and other public authorities provide for free services that are charged for or covered by private insurance in other countries (education, unemployment). It also provides other services which are totally private or charitable (like cultural or social policies) in other countries. This is why the French give very little to charity, compared to the USA. Contrary to what most Americans think, except for the richest, you can get through taxes in France what you cannot afford in the USA : see an example. The main tax is the TVA "taxe à la valeur ajoutée" (value added tax) which is 19,6% on most expenses (with a reduced rate for food, books and essential goods at 5,5%) ; all prices in France are indicated tax included. It weighs on every product sold in France but, contrary to a sales tax, at each step of the economic circuit the economic agent collects it on its sales but gets reimbursed of it on what it purchased. It is therefore neutral, however, long or short, the circuit. %). It is the most productive tax (45% of total taxes) and it is less painful than any other tax. It was invented by a Frenchman, Maurice Lauré, in 1954. It is now established in all the countries of the European Union and in many countries worldwide (but not in the USA). The income tax comes next ; it is paid only by people above a certain income and, given large tax deduction for children, only 52% of the population pays income tax ; currently, the maximum marginal rate for it is 48,09 %. France is the only country in Europe where income tax is not automatically witheld from the paycheck : you pay in 2008 on your income of 2007. Local taxes : land and property owners pay a "taxe foncière" (property tax) and tenants pay a "taxe d'habitation". In Paris, where local taxes are not particularly high, see example of the numbers. There is also an "impôt sur la fortune" ISF (literally tax on fortune) if your assets are over 770,000 Euros (0,55 to 4% tax rate), which comes very fast if you own your apartment in Paris... (thousands of millionnaires have emigrated to escape it) Taxes levied on companies are much higher in France than in any other country : they include not only corporate taxes but a large number of dedicated social transfers actually paid by companies (to finance State policies in the fields of unemployment, public transport, physically disabled, public housing, etc..). This is why "travail au noir" (undeclared work) is relatively important (above 5%) : see the anatomy of a paycheck and comparative European figures on "travail au noir". European taxes do not exist (yet!) but each country contributes to the European budget, which is now very big (agricultural policy, regional policy,...) There are more and more specific taxes to encourage energy efficiency (for instance on cars) and to finance the protection of environnement (for instance a few cents on each mobile phone). Read more about it. Contrary to what most Americans think, foreign aid is much higher in France (and in Europe) than in the USA For details on French taxes, visit the (excellent) site of the Ministry of Finance.  IN A NUTSHELL... : taxes have reached a point where people are really upset about them and the French do not understand why the Americans complain the taxes they pay, considering they have such a low level of taxation! USEFUL TIP....." Ca se fait or ça ne se fait fait pas " (you are or you are not supposed to do that) is a very large concept which can reveal a lot about the French : it illustrates that, often, the French consider the respect of harmony, esthetics or tradition more important than profit or achievement ; a classical example is the case of an American in a good restaurant ordering a glass of milk : for an American, he pays and therefore he can have anything he wants, for a French, this is a shame and the restaurant would rather lose a customer than satisfying such an absurd desire.... DID KNOWN THE "SYSTEME D" ....? It is a very popular concept, often used by the French to get through a complicated and/or a bureaucratic situation (D stands for " débrouille " i.e. to sort out ) ; the French use it a lot.
To related pages : more intercultural (#1), anti-Americanism (#2), intercultural management (#3), French visions of the USA (#4), the US press (#6), favorite artists (#8), etc...

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For more on intercultural differences, order Harriet Welty Rochefort's books : "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..) Together or separately, Harriet and Philippe speak about Intercultural Differences : click here for information.

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