Français | English
Gouverner la vie privée

Gouverner la vie privée

L'encadrement inégalitaire des séparations conjugales en France et au Québec


Gouvernement en question(s)



Governing Intimacy in France and Canada
How Judicial Policies Shape Inequalities after Breakups

For both governments and citizens, the role of the State in private life is tricky: individuals have more rights than in the past; however since some behaviors are seen as problematic for the community, they stimulate new forms of interventionism. In addition, the goal of reducing public spending increases the role of private actors. Through their own ambiguities, such policies play a major part in shaping class, gender and race relations. To analyse this unequal dynamic in the regulation of breakups, this book draws on several empirical studies, which were conducted collectively, over a long period of time and with a comparative approach. In France, as in Quebec (Canada), access to services, interactions with professionals and the management of lifestyles are the three constitutive dimensions of this governance of family life. However, each jurisdiction differs regarding the intersection of class and gender inequalities. By examining the institutional shaping of private inequalities, this book invites us to imagine alternative ways, in both the private and public spheres, for the politics of rights to fulfil its emancipatory promises.