The attitude to work was said to be the reason French revolted over raising the retirement age
The Upheaval of France and the Work Forces of the Age: An Empirical Analysis of France’s Revolution and its Impact on Popular Culture
I’ve lived in the United States for 30 years and know both France and the United States well, so I come to France for several weeks each year. One thing that seems clear to me is that the kind of upheaval playing out in the country of my birth would be almost unthinkable in America. The French were angry at the planned increase in the retirement age, but Americans aren’t sure what to make of it.
When they think they can’t do a good job because they don’t have enough time, they find it is not a good job because they don’t recognize that kind of job.
Editor’s Note: Catherine Poisson is an associate professor of Romance Languages at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. From the 19th century to the present, her research focused on literature and culture of France. The views she expresses in the article are her own. Read more opinion at CNN.
While it’s true that some people choose to work past retirement, most of us in this country, at some point or the other, have seen elderly people hard at work in occupations that people many years younger would find taxing.
What do the Paris protests in France have to teach us about work? The Troisieme age in France is not a perfect age for workers and workers
The schools are closed because of the strike. Transportation, including France’s usually reliable train service, is suddenly erratic because of the work stoppages. On top of all this, Parisians have seen their city’s streets strewn with tons of trash, after sanitation workers launched a labor action in solidarity.
The closest analogy in the United States to anything like what my compatriots are experiencing would be the decision four decades ago to raise the age at which Social Security benefits are doled out.
The demonstrations in France did not change Americans’ sense of solidarity. It has elicited expressions of befuddlement. What on earth, my friends and acquaintances here ask, do the French have to complain about?
In France, life is not perfect. French citizens have a generous health care system, meaning workers pay next to nothing for medical care. It’s nearly free to attend a university. Unemployment benefits allow laid-off workers to sustain a reasonable quality of life while they look for their next jobs.
If Americans are baffled by the French willingness to fight to hold onto these hard-won benefits, it is in part because the two countries have very different ideas about what it means to be a worker. In the United States, work is something to be proud of. You are what you are hired to do.
Work refers to a finite period of life that lasts 40 years for people who were raised in French culture. When that work is done, you are mature enough and fit enough to enjoy the best of what life has to offer. It’s the norm that retirement years — or decades actually — are spent traveling, caring for grandchildren or picking up new hobbies.
It’s part of our social compact: The French work hard during their most productive years during which time they pay what most Americans would consider usuriously high taxes. But then comes the much anticipated “Troisieme Age” — the “third age.” It’s a concept French people grow up with and cling to fervently for their entire lives.
The first age is when your brain is growing up. Many of us are saddled with responsibilities of work and raising children at a younger age. The third age promises a retirement that is free of worry and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. There is a lot of willingness on the part of the people to protect it.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/23/opinions/france-pension-reform-protests-macron-poisson/index.html
Macron hasn’t given up on the power of politics: armed protests against pension reforms are mounting mounting fires in Macron’s regime
The imperial style of his administration was on display last week in the use of aconstitutional maneuver to raise the retirement age. It’s an approach to governing that Macron has used multiple times, including when he passed a budget late last year. There has been a growing sign of government heavy-handedness as the protests intensify, with Macron resorting to the “requisition” of some striking workers in order to get them to return to work.
Still, there are less draconian ways to fix problems posed by a future retirement fund shortfall. The wealth tax might be reversed by the president. He might also reconsider corporate tax breaks that have benefited big business handsomely.
I believe that the moves are an admission of political weakness rather than strength. The president has failed to see politics as the art of persuasion and is instead ruling by fiat. The brutal police crackdown on demonstrators protesting pension reforms led to hundreds of arrests in recent days, another sign that he lacks political deftness. The unions meanwhile show no sign of backing down, and are continuing to organize massive protests urging workers to stand firm and remain off the job.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/23/opinions/france-pension-reform-protests-macron-poisson/index.html
What Next? The French Way of Life in the Era of Recession and the End of Parisian Perseudo Socialism
So what’s next? Surely the French will continue to take to the streets, something they always do with great gusto. Beyond this, it’s hard to say how this upheaval ends.
The French are slow to embrace change. I am and will always remain staunchly French, although after many years in the US, I can see that my compatriots need to show greater flexibility. They hold on too long to obsolete aspects of their cherished way of life. It’s time for the French to abandon their “c’est tout ou rien” (“all or nothing”) approach as we negotiate what French society will look like in the future.
