Round 15 of the Political Confidence Barometer, a vast annual survey conducted by the OpinionWay institute for Sciences Po's Center for Political Research between January 8 and 18, 2024, highlights the skepticism surrounding the French government's actions since the appointment of Gabriel Attal as prime minister on January 9. From crisis to crisis, the government of President Emmanuel Macron never seems to be able to rebuild social cohesion, despite its goal to increase social mobility and reward merit. Attal is progressing on a path undermined by mistrust and the gloomy view the French take of their own society.
Only 24% of respondents felt that France was a fair society, with only 3% "strongly agreeing" with this idea. This percentage hardly varies according to age (19% for high school students, 23% for retirees), or even according to respondents' profession: 20% of blue-collar workers, but only 30% of white collars support this idea. Far from a return to class warfare, we are above all in a head-on political opposition between Macron's voters in the first round of the 2022 presidential election (42% think society is fair) and those of radical-left La France Insoumise candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon (20%), or those of far-right candidates Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National) and Eric Zemmour (Reconquête!), who received 18% and 19% respectively. As we can see, injustice is just as strongly denounced on the far right as it is on the left or far left.
This sense of injustice is linked to how work is perceived and the perceived lack of recognition. While a very large majority of French people (75%) remain convinced that their work "serves a purpose," in all professions, many feel a lack of recognition. Barely half of those surveyed (53%) say that the efforts they have made in their professional lives have been recognized and rewarded. Admittedly, this figure rises with professional level and household income, from 43% among blue-collar workers to 64% among white-collar workers. But it remains low, even among households in the middle class, with incomes of between €2,000 and €4,500 a month (56%).
Sense of social contempt
Worse still, this lack of recognition is accompanied by a general feeling of social contempt. For 68% of those surveyed, France remains a society in which many people are looked down upon. Here again, the differences by professional category or level of qualification are small. Social unrest is therefore not only rooted in differences in income that are not commensurate with the efforts made. It also has a moral dimension. French society is not only seen as unfair but also as disdainful of those "who are nothing."
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