The récit de filiation ouvrière and the unfinished business of fordism in twenty-first-century France

Clarke, J. (2018) The récit de filiation ouvrière and the unfinished business of fordism in twenty-first-century France. Modern and Contemporary France, 26(3), pp. 261-273. (doi: 10.1080/09639489.2018.1447916)

Abstract

This article discusses three texts published between 2002 and 2008 that have as their starting point the closure and/or demolition of industrial workplaces. Written by children of industrial workers (Aurélie Filipetti, Martine Sonnet, Franck Magloire), these texts are marked by a sense of generational discontinuity and have been described as ‘tombstones for the working class’. This article reconsiders these textual responses to the disappearance of industrial workplaces, problematizing the narrative of class death and showing that not all the texts have the same relationship to the industrial past. It argues that Sonnet’s Atelier 62 (2008) and Magloire’s Ouvrière (2002) can be understood instead as a response to the end of Fordism and the social optimism that characterised les Trente glorieuses.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Clarke, Dr Jackie
• Authors: Clarke, J.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French
• Journal Name: Modern and Contemporary France
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0963-9489
• ISSN (Online): 1469-9869
• Published Online: 23 August 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France
• First Published: First published in Modern and Contemporary France 26(3):261-273
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy