1973-2008 generational dynamics and social change

Retrospective analysis of the five editions of the Cultural Practices Survey conducted since the early 1970s by the Ministry of Culture

At a time when the spread of the Internet and new screens (computers, game consoles, multimedia mobile phones...) are changing habits in terms of information, entertainment and culture, a retrospective analysis of the results of the five editions of the Cultural Practices survey carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Communication since the early 1970s.

Analysis built in two stages:

- it first deals with theTotal French population : for each activity in the five editions, we study the evolution of its penetration rate whether the share of people who have done so at least once in the last 12 months has increased or decreased nationally and if this trend is continuous throughout the period studied. Some reversals of trend or inflection are they emerging and, in this case, when did they occur?

- secondly, observation is at the level of the population categories defined according to four criteria: gender, age, social background and place of residenceOf these four criteria, the question is the same for each of the trends observed at the French population level: whether the observed change (or lack thereof) is general or specific to some of the population categories ? Does it simply translate thestructural development of the French population during the period or does it refer to real behavioural changes ? And, in the latter case, how important are generation and supply effects ?

Find the survey methodology

Comparing and interpreting sociological survey data produced at 35-year intervals requires several methodological precautions to be implemented for data analysis to take into account demographic, economic and social structural changes in society and distinguish between the effects of time, generation and supply. Secondly, cultural practices themselves, and more generally the modes of access to culture, have changed over the past 35 years, particularly as a result of technological innovations. The document elaborates on each of these points before returning to the interpretation of the processes often convened to analyse the evolution of cultural practices: feminization, elitisation or democratization, juvénilisation. Measurement and interpretation issues