French society has gone through significant changes during the last century, and the consequences of this relatively fast demographic transition have resulted in tensions within the society. Overall, when compared to other European countries, French society can be considered a model yet an atypical example as well. During the history of Europe France has always stood out; it used to be the most populous country, the country where Républicanisme was born, and the idea of a political nation was forged. On the other hand, today there are many aspects of the French society where France is reluctant to change, making it a very peculiar example within Europe. While in most European countries the population is decreasing due to extremely low fertility, the opposite is true in France. While in most nations urbanisation is still only in the process of acceleration, in France the population of many metropolitan areas have already started to shrink. While most of Western Europe turns towards a multicultural approach on immigration, France still sticks to its “assimilationist” agenda. While in other European countries minority rights are recognised and even supported, in France the concept of minority in not present in the law and it is merely considered as opposed to majority.
