Division sociale de l'espace et globalisation. Le cas de la métropole parisienne

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Abstract
Can the present trends of change in the social division of space in the Paris region be analysed as consequences of the globalisation process and of Paris becoming a global city? The global service sector associated with the multinationals and financial markets is indeed the leading component in the economic restructuring of the region, but it represents a minority only of the economy of the region, and other components remain important, some being even linked to different globalisation processes. The changes in the overall social structure of the metropolitan area, far from supporting the social dualisation model proposed by S. Sassen, exhibit a general shift in favor of upper social categories, and, to a lesser degree, middle ones. The decrease of blue collar workers is only partly compensated by the growth of a new tertiary proletariat. As to the supposed spatial dualisation, the process does take place in those areas which were previously the most polarised -predominantly upper class and working class areas -, but not in the majority of suburban municipalities, which remain places of variegated social mixes, despite the overall social hierarchisation of urban spaces.

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