Kevin Geay: Laxity, Disinterest and Distaste. About the Upper Class’ Relationship with Politics.
A new ethnography paints a fresh picture of the Parisian bourgeoisie and their relationship to politics. In this talk, its author Kevin Geay presents some of its main findings.
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Kevin Geay recently published the results of his ethnography in Paris' "beautiful neighborhoods" in "Enqête sur les bourgeois: aux marges des beaux quartiers" -- Investigation of the bourgeois: on the fringes of 'beautiful neighbourhoods'
Much research has found marked class differences in political interest, competence and mobilization, with the upper class being the most interested, competent and mobilized group. This talk starts with acknowledging cases where the French bourgeoisie deviates from this – distancing themselves from political mobilizations or failing to reproduce its worldview. By doing so, we hope to renew a sociological questioning that has become routine when it comes to describing the way the upper classes promote their interest. The issue is less how they maintain social order, but rather, how they manage to restore it when it is threatened.
