That the place of residence draws for each different leisure universes will not surprise too much. But for the fifteen practices studied, divided into cultural, media and ordinary leisure, this ' territorial effect » is apprehended in an unprecedented way by a cross between the results of the survey on cultural practices and the new communal grid of density of INSEE.
The fine-grained approach and the resulting lessons are particularly valuable at a time when the Ministry of Culture launched a major national consultation: the Spring of Rurality. Feedback on the main lessons of the study «Leisure of cities, leisure of fields?», by Edwige Millery and Léa Garcia, respectively research and statistical studies officer, in the Department of Studies, Foresight, Statistics and Documentation (DEPS) of the Ministry of Culture. Interview with Edwige Millery.
What is the main teaching of the study «Leisure of cities, leisure of fields?»
The main lesson of our study is that commitment to cultural practices is not the same depending on whether you live in the city or in the countryside; then, that diversity and type of leisure are not the same either, consequence, no doubt, different lifestyles and habitats, but also different tastes and cultural universes. Finally, and this is important, that a large part of the population is located within 30 minutes of cultural equipment. But that this access time can be a significant obstacle to certain cultural practices.
A territorial effect you say is added to social characteristics but to a lesser extent for executives or young graduates.
This is an important result, but not so surprising. In the sociology of culture, we know that the degree level, the socio-professional category and the age of the people are determining variables to explain cultural participation. Our main concern was whether the territorial effect reinforced or mitigated these differences. It is clear that this varies according to practice. In some cases, the territorial effect may reinforce a lesser commitment, in others it is observed rather than attenuating it.
Fifteen cultural practices have been screened, themselves classified into three categories, cultural, media, and ordinary leisure. How did you proceed?
We crossed the results of the survey on cultural practices with the new communal grid of density of INSEE which, since 2021, details in a much finer way the different territories of the intermediate urban and the rural, It is subdivided into rural villages, rural with scattered settlements and rural with very dispersed settlements. An approach that differs from another zoning of INSEE, that of the area of attraction of cities that measures the influence of a population and employment pole on the surrounding municipalities.
With this new zoning, we no longer stick, as in the past, to the size of the agglomeration alone to define rurality. You can have communities of 5,000 people that are far away from an area of urban attraction, and you can have small communities of less than 2,000 people that are in the urban belts. It should be noted that the access times were calculated from a base consisting of the entire cultural offer which is quite unprecedented. In the face of statements of practices that can reveal obstacles to cultural participation, we are now able to objectify physical distance to equipment.
What about cultural leisure?
We observe that the distribution of these practices by degree level or social category is about the same in cities and rural areas, but that the commitment to so-called “output” practices – theatre, museum, libraries in particular – is somewhat less shared. For these, we find the usual social stratification: the workers and the employees of the rural territories practice less than the executives of the rural territories, with this nuance than the practices of the executives, according to whether they live in the city or in the countryside, are also a bit different in terms of intensity.
On the other hand, festivals, which are popular with both the countryside and the city, seem to be an exception.
Yes. There is no territorial effect for festivals. Different explanations can be put forward: the festive nature of these events perhaps makes them more accessible and makes them retreat or even break this symbolic brake that prevents a part of the population from frequenting certain cultural facilities.
The study highlights the remarkable density of the network of cultural institutions in the territory.
This cultural network is indeed extremely rich and dense. The most emblematic example is that of libraries, the first local cultural equipment on the territory. But it is not the only one. There are also more than 2,000 cinemas and 6,000 screens. Of course, most of them are managed by private actors but they too participate in this network of territory, especially in rural areas where a large share of cinemas are classified Art and essay.
Is this density of cultural facilities likely to abolish the distinction between urban and rural inhabitants?
Some qualitative criteria must be introduced here. To take the example of libraries, they are found throughout the country, but not all have the same offer, neither the same volume of opening, nor the same fund, and the smaller ones are run by volunteers for a few hours a week while librarians are often professionals in larger libraries. So yes, today there are cultural places all over the country, including in rural areas, and that’s good, but the best equipped facilities are still, for a large part, located in urban areas. That said, these facilities established in the city have for some missions outside the walls, including in the territories furthest from the urban attractiveness. They also participate fully in the cultural offer even if they are not physically located in rural areas.
When it comes to media leisure, the difference is striking between older populations, who favor television and radio, and younger populations, who favor the podcast.
Absolutely. This difference also highlights structural effects: in rural areas, there is an older population than in urban areas. Thus, the share of the over-60s is three times higher than that of the 15-24 year-olds in rural villages, and almost three and a half times higher in rural areas with very dispersed housing, while this gap is reduced in large urban centres (over 60 years are one and a half times larger than 15-24 years). These population structure effects must always be borne in mind when reading the results. Of course, there are comments about differences in cultural engagement, but the populations living in different types of territory are not the same. Another example: in urban belts, many families with children live in pavilions which conditions a little different leisure.
What about ordinary leisure?
We observe a phenomenon of eclecticism for these hobbies. Self-production practices, such as gardening, for example, formerly associated with the popular categories, are now becoming distinctive, and are the subject of a valorization notably under the influence of media and social networks, whether sewing work, embroidery, crafts or even cooking.
Spring of rurality: method and proposals
At the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, a national consultation on the cultural offer in rural areas was launched in January 2024: the Spring of rurality. The Department of Studies, Foresight, Statistics and Documentation (DEPS) of the Ministry of Culture has been doubly associated with this approach. Edwige Millery sheds light on the two types of LIFO interventions.
« The Spring of rurality is led by the delegation to transmission, territories and cultural democracy that we helped to design the questionnaire of consultation for inhabitants, explains Edwige Millery. The questionnaire includes questions administered in other barometric surveys, which will allow comparisons with the general population. A national consultation allows, and it is for this purpose that it is implemented, to gather the opinion of the population and proposals for improving a public policy but it does not allow to produce results in general population. We know that the results may over- or under-represent people’s opinions on a given issue. This is the difference between a national consultation system and a general population survey such as the cultural practices survey conducted with a representative sample of the national population ".
« In addition to the national consultation, continues Edwige Millery, the DEPS and the General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs (IGAC) are conducting a survey on a representative sample of the rural population, to which the same questions are asked as those of the national consultation. The IGAC is in fact seized with a mission of observation of the devices deployed in the rural territories which aims to enrich the knowledge of these spaces in order to deploy cultural policies taking into account their territorial specificities ".
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