The French culture integrates efficiency and efficacy to achieve results prioritizing the latter.
The French Archetype generated a unique way to develop a culture and a country.
France is a country with a very strong technological development. But, even with this strength,
France prioritizes science over technology. It can be considered as a benchmark for scientific development both in hard and soft sciences.
To understand French culture, one needs to understand the French Revolution as a detonating element of its assertion, which drives towards its evolution.
The French Archetype
France’s archetype integrates pragmatism, which is notorious in its international policy, a democracy-driven approach that is evident in its non-dissent model, a strong nationality, and its characteristic of being a science incubator.
The French archetype includes and will always include a high degree of State intervention in the economy through incentive systems. This is also evident if we analyze the history of France since the Industrial Revolution.
The French model has always combined a certain degree of Keynesianism and of structuralism with some classic elements.
The employment problem will be a growing one, but one must bear in mind that France has the social perspective of employing people ingrained in the leaders’ minds; therefore, it is not a “struggle” between interests and employment but rather a “conflict” between them.
One should expect a reinforcement of government actions to foster the generation of employment in the country and a conflict with companies that seek to install manufacturing plants in some low wage countries.
The French idiosyncrasy is based on their structured social behavior, which is associated with a notorious individual freedom that drives to the existence of two different behavioral rules for public and private affairs.
Non-dissent as a Model
Conceptually, the French Revolution symbolized the maximum expression of the weight of dissent in a culture.
If we look at France’s later evolution, we shall see that different models, social groups and ideologies coexist in the culture.
But their coexistence is possible due to a very strong national identity that, through respect toward dissent, and only with a few exceptions, manages to avoid larger conflicts. This is what the French Archetype is about.
The May 1968 revolt drove to the acceptance of the need to have a laboratory to monitor social evolution. From a conceptual point of view, the social laboratory is a way to measure society’s dissent and the possibilities to channel it positively to avoid outbursts.
France as the Birthplace of Sciences
France is, at an intellectual level, science-driven. Its orientation toward dissent is the basis for the approach to sciences, which naturally drives to integrate foundations with justifications.
France produced notorious contributions in the fields of hard sciences like mathematics, physics, and chemistry and in soft-sciences like psychology, anthropology, sociology, etc.
France’s development in the scientific field generates a knowledge basis in Europe. This is based on the Universities, which operate as excellence centers per area and help guarantee that France and Europe count on think tanks to maintain worldwide leadership in their fields of specialty.
Public Ethics vs. Private Ethics
The French culture is based on a unique characteristic: the complementation of public and private ethics.
While public ethics is strongly geared toward security, driving toward institutionalization and a sense of communitarian identity, on the other hand, private ethics is geared toward freedom and the quest for the personal ideal beyond those duties that must be complied with in the community.
France’s Growth
Today France appears to be inclined toward a growth based on the development of competitiveness in the culture.
It has to be considered that it is a nationalist culture that complements public and private behaviors. Its State is very strong, which is perceived in its diplomatic action, where the national interest is set above individual needs.
While the organization of the State assures structural stability, governments, like elsewhere, need to win elections and therefore need to be focused on conjunctures.
France’s evolution depends, like all evolution, on the competitors’ actions. The quality and speed at which it moves will depend on whether France maintains its current stage or whether it upgrades to a superior stage.
Absolute Ideology vs. Relative Ideology
France has been harshly criticized from the outside, because of its tendency toward ideological conflicts that appear to be absolute.
These actions, at a given time, may paralyze actions in social or economic sectors.
However, taking a closer look, one will see that these conflicts are relative ones if viewed from an internal standpoint.
That is why we can still expect a larger relativization of the ideologies “wrapped up” in conflicts that appear to be absolute.
Ideologies will become in France what they essentially are: beliefs that use available technology to satisfy certain interests working within the accepted myths of a culture.
Synthesis
The analysis of the Unicist French Archetype reflects a deep understanding of the cultural, historical, and socio-political dynamics that shape France’s national character and developmental trajectory. Here are some key insights and interpretations of the concept:
- Integration of Efficiency and Efficacy: The archetype suggests that France has a unique balance between efficiency (doing things in an optimal way) and efficacy.
- Historical and Cultural Foundations: The French Revolution is cited as a pivotal event that continues to influence French cultural and political life.
- Science over Technology: Despite strong technological capabilities, France is portrayed as prioritizing science, particularly in fields such as mathematics, physics, and sociology.
- Public vs. Private Ethics: There is a distinction made between public and private ethics in France.
- Economic and Social Policy: The archetype notes a significant degree of state intervention in the economy, which is consistent with France’s historical tendency towards Keynesianism and structuralism.
- Ideological Dynamics: France is described as having a culture where ideological conflicts, while appearing absolute, are actually functional from an internal perspective.
This conceptual analysis underscores the complexity of French national identity and its evolution, emphasizing the interplay between historical influences and contemporary societal dynamics. Such an archetype is valuable for understanding not just France’s current position but also its potential future paths in both domestic and international arenas.
The Unicist Research Institute