Group consciousness and political behavior among citizens of immigrant origin: The case of France

This paper explores various characteristics of political behavior of persons of immigrant origin in France (abstention and registration rates, degree of interest in politics and right-left self placement). Using newly available survey data that bypass data availability issues in that country, I conduct tests pertaining to the importance of ethnic voting and ethnic consciousness in political behavior. In particular, several potentially salient identities are selected for testing (Arab, Black, Muslim) and contrasted with the hypothesis of convergence between immigrant descendants and the rest of the French population. I find little evidence for an independent effect of potentially salient ethnic identities on political behavior, with the exception of being black from overseas territories