QWho will emerge victorious from the presidential election? No one can tell. On the other hand, we know that the decision will be made between the right and the right against a background of radicalism. The diagnosis of pollsters and most political commentators is clear: a right-wing France, tempted by its extremes, which doubts democracy.
We have to take a closer look. And not to confuse the sociological reality of the French with its representations as poll, media as political. There is no lack of visible signs of the progress of democratic values: LGBT tolerance, same-sex marriages, record of inter-ethnic marriages and the assimilation of foreigners, feminist movements, increased sensitivity to inequalities and injustices, attachment to the republican motto, etc.
These indices reflect deep movements of democratization often poorly perceived and understood, around individuality, equality and expressiveness.
Growing sense of equality
Individualization does not have a good press in politics. Whether it is presented as opposed to socialization and civic-mindedness or whether it is reduced to the sole figure ofhomo economicus. By forgetting that democracy is born from the recognition of the individual freed from the community shackles. Democratization is closely linked to the process of individual emancipation and his capacity for self-determination, which qualifies him as a free citizen. Far from opposing socialization, individualization presupposes it. Contemporary individualization is relational. It multiplies networks, formal and informal associations, groups of all kinds. With the Internet, it establishes a kind of permanent communication mixing the individual and the collective.
This individualization brings about another democratic virtue: the entry into a new age of equality. Cardinal value of democracy if there is one, especially on the left. No longer the equality of individuals through similarity and having, but an otherwise demanding equality through the singularity of the particular being. Beyond any condition, belonging or identity, each one feels more and more the equal of the other by his own “originality”. This growing sense of everyone’s equality conceals a revolutionary democratic potential which exercises a direct influence on our statutory and unequal societies.
Shared democratic values
These new clothes of individuality and equality also call for a strong desire for recognition, manifestation and expression, not to say participation. We are in a communication society which goes far beyond the media where everyone thinks they have their say. Not just in social networks. But also more and more through associations, or during demonstrations on public roads and roundabouts, through support for medical staff, in citizens’ movements, etc.
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