UN RENOUVEAU DE LA PARTICIPATION ASSOCIATIVE ? L'engagement et le militantisme au sein du comité Attac Isère

2.1.2 Socio-demographic categories

2.1.2.1 The kind and the age of Attacants

Initially, one can note a strong presence of the men within Attac (60%). Political sociology already showed that the sex is a heavy variable in the comprehension of the political participation. However, as recalled by Matéi Dogane and Jacques Narbonne, one cannot therefore speaking about political behavior which would be specific to the women or the men^384(*). It is more the specific psychosocial context to each sex which intervenes. The difference of social status, the unequal place in the report/ratio with work, and the sexual division of the tasks within social space give an account of this difference^385(*).

However, it would seem with the first access that this difference is not observed within the militants isérois. It was possible to notice at the public meetings that the number of women and the number of men were often equivalent. It was even rather frequent that the women are represented better than the men. « parity » is also respected within the turnover since nine men and ten women are present. That testifies to a will of the militants isérois to respect balance. The parity constitutes an objective asserted by the militants. On the other hand, among the 33 persons in charge for sets of themes groups, the women under-are represented with only twelve stations. That more really represented the sexual division of the tasks within the committee isérois. The equal presence of the women and the men at the meetings does not translate therefore an equality of the participation. Indeed, more of the three quarters of the speeches are carried out by men. Moreover, two types of speech seem to be able to be distinguished. The speeches carried out by the men seem to be equipped with a property much more decisional than those which are carried out by the women. These observations remain of course with the row of assumptions because they would ask to be confirmed by a greater number of observations. The distribution men/women seemed to us sufficiently unequal so that it is important to speak about it.

The distribution of the militants in term of age group appears on the other hand very homogeneous^386(*). The most sixty years 15% of the national members represent^387(*). This figure translates a good representation of this age group which occupies 26,9% of the working population but whose militant political participation is usually weak. The observations which it was possible to carry out at the time of the A.G of St Brieuc in October 2000, where the most sixty years were very present, allows to suppose that the participation in community life enables them to establish a social bond^388(*). It is difficult, because of the statistics at our disposal, to precisely evaluate the representation of the young people within Attac^389(*). The 18-30 years account for 60% of the national members. They also account for 19,4% of the sample of the investigation « Toulouse ».

The age group best represented within the national members is that of the 30-60 years (69%). Among those, it would seem according to the study carried out by Thomas Marty that the 30-40 years (36,3% of the Toulouse sample) under-are slightly represented compared to the working population national (43%). On the other hand the group of the 40-60 (56,2% of the sample « Toulouse ») on-would be represented in comparison with the whole of Pa main road (49,9%). In order to give an account of this observation, it is possible to call upon, like does it Thomas Marty, the concept of troop which is defined as « the whole of the individuals [who] meet at the same time a given event »^390(*). We will prefer the term to him of « generation » which raises more than one historical approach that demographic. This step has the merit to stress the influence of an event on a given age group^391(*).

* ³⁸⁴ Dogan (Mattei), Narbonne (Jacques), Frenchwomen vis-a-vis the policy, Paris, ED A. Colin, 1955, p. 191.

* ³⁸⁵ Chagnollaud (Domenica), political Science, Paris, Dalloz, 1999, p. 161.

* ³⁸⁶ Cf, document «  Compared générationnelles structures  », p. 167.

* ³⁸⁷ Cf, Inventory of fixtures, appendix n°12, p. 29.

* ³⁸⁸ Several bus, coming from the Paris area in particular, were made up essentially of people of the 3rd age. User-friendliness appeared very strong within these groups.

* ³⁸⁹ The statistics produced by the direction of Attac indeed are not refined enough for a detailed explanation. Three age groups are only taken into account  : 18-30 years, 30-60 years, more than 60 years. One can legitimately ask for the reasons of this rather vague cutting.

* ³⁹⁰ Chauvel (Louis), op.cit, p. 14.

* ³⁹¹ We refer to the definition which gives the historian March Bloch of a generation. «  The men who were born in the same social environment, at close dates, necessarily undergo, in particular during their time of formation, the similar influences. The experiment proves that their behavior presents, compared to the groups appreciably older or more young people, of the distinctive features usually strong Nets. That until in their dissensions which can be acuter. To impassion itself for the same debate, was this in opposed direction, it is still to resemble. This community of print, coming from a community of age, is called a generation  ». Bloch (Marc), Apology for the history, Paris, ED A.Colin, 1974, p. 150.