No sex scandals please, we're French: French attitudes towards politicians' public and private conduct

Sarmiento-Mirwaldt, K., Allen, N. and Birch, S. (2014) No sex scandals please, we're French: French attitudes towards politicians' public and private conduct. West European Politics, 37(5), pp. 867-885. (doi: 10.1080/01402382.2014.911482)

Abstract

The notion of distinct ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres underpins much normative and practical engagement with political misconduct. What is less clear is whether citizens draw distinctions between misdemeanours in the ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres, and whether they judge these in systematically different ways. This paper explores attitudes to political misconduct in France. French citizens are often said to be particularly relaxed about politicians’ private affairs, but there has been little empirical evidence for this proposition. Drawing on original survey data, this paper demonstrates clearly that French citizens draw a sharp distinction between politicians’ public and private transgressions, and are more tolerant of the latter.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in West European Politics on 18 June 2014, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01402382.2014.911482
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Birch, Professor Sarah
• Authors: Sarmiento-Mirwaldt, K., Allen, N., and Birch, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: West European Politics
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis (Routledge)
• ISSN: 0140-2382
• ISSN (Online): 1743-9655
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis
• First Published: First published in West European Politics 37(5):867-885
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher