Unit One: Families in Different Societies - Notes

The 15 biggest differences between French and American parenting

● Clear boundaries
● Lives center around the parents more so than around the children
● There aren’t kids food or kids menus

The Importance of the French Family

● Sense of family identity and society
● Adult children often live close to their families. Weekly meals and daily phone calls are
common.
● Social identity can be more important than individual identity
● Value following social norms
● Multigenerational households are common
● Living with parents until marriage is not uncommon
● French families are very private. To be invited to s family gathering is a great honor.
● Actions of one family member reflect on the family as a whole

Family Values: French and American

● Pro-family in the US means more conservative (oppose abortion, gay marriage, attend
church regularly, etc.) This is the opposite of France. The French define people who are
pro-family as more liberal (Universal healthcare, allowances paid to families with young
children to help cover the costs, minimum of four days stay for mothers who just gave
birth, state-run daycare, free education, and one month paid vacation for all)

For this article, there is a version translated by the website. The English says some
things that are very different from what the French version says which I find very interesting. I
think this is a good example of how culture affects language.

Coffee Break French: 4:14 Jours de RTT

● RTT= Réduction du temps de travail
● 35 hour work week (semaine de travail)
● Creates employment opportunities
● If you work more than 35 hours you can take those extra hours for vacation

Unit Two: The Influence of Language on Culture and Identity

A french article! La France est-elle vraiment un pays assimilationniste?

New vocab
 ● Muslmans- Muslims
● Fournir- provide
● Penchants-fondness
● Guerre- war
● Siècle- century
● Celui- the one
● Juifs- jews
● Antisémites-antisemites
● Événement- event/occurence
● Indigènes- native/indigenous
● Croissance- growth

Paragraph by paragraph summary

● There is a supposed long-standing tradition of good cultural assimilation in France. The
author questions how this can be true with the development of terrorism.
● War of the races- The issue of assimilation arose in the 19th century with the place in the
society of Jewish people. This began with the publishing of La France Juive by
d’Edouard Drumont. This was an antiemetic work.
● Debates about becoming de-provincial of french began. This would be done through the
removal of regional culture and language within education. This was to forge a french
identity that was beyond the french regions. This would first challenge the Jewish
identities within France.
● In 1840 this debate was moved to the colonies where the french went to study tribal
communities.
● Napolean the third based on personal religion established a hierarchy of ethno-religion.

At this point in the article, I started having more trouble understanding and was doing more
translating than anything. I switched to the English version for the rest of the article.

Notes
● After WW1 France needed laborers. These laborers were often immigrants as they didn’t
unionize. In order to protect immigrants companies made deals with the Polish church
that priests would come and create a sense of community for immigrants. This is why
today in the French Council of Muslim Worship there is a close relationship with the
states of origin. (Morocco, Algeria, etc.)
● Muslims face similar oppression as Jewish people did in the 19th century.
Unit Three: Influences of Beauty and Art
Fine Arts
● Under state support, all art forms flourish in France
 ● During the renaissance and middle ages, France produced many religious paintings.
● The académie francaise regulated literature and the academy of fine arts regulated art.
● France became the western center of avant-garde art.
● Romantic works of Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier were considered scandalous
● Impressionism started in France Édouard Manet started this movement. Artists from this
movement include Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro, Alfred Sisley, and Edgar Degas.
● The 1960s post-impressionism movement brought artists such as Paul Cézanne, Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat.
● Pablo Picasso who was born in Spain spent most of his artistic life in France. He was
very influential in 20th century art.
● In Mid 20th century the world’s focus shifted from France to NYC.

Unit Four: How Science and Technology Affect Our Lives

French Technology Status
● Search engines originated in france
● France played an important role in the development of photography
● France is a leader in nuclear exports
● Leader in high speed transit specifically trains
● France was the third country to launch a satellite
● Refrigerator, parachute, and generators were all invented in france