The culture of France
and of the French people
has been shaped by geography,
by profound historical events,
and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris,
has played an important role as a center of high
culture since the 17th century, first in Europe, and from
the 19th century on, world wide. From the late 19th century, France has also
played an important role in cinema,
fashion
and cuisine.
The importance of French culture has waxed and waned over the centuries,
depending on its economic, political and military importance. French culture
today is marked both by great regional and socioeconomic differences and by
strong unifying tendencies.
Main articles: French language,
Languages
of France and Language policy in France
The Académie française sets an official standard of language purity;
however, this standard, which is not mandatory, is even occasionally ignored by
the government itself: for instance, the left-wing government of Lionel Jospin
pushed for the feminization of the names of some functions (madame la ministre)
while the Académie pushed for some more traditional madame le ministre.
Some action has been taken by the government in order to promote French
culture and the French
language. For instance, there exists a system of subsidies and
preferential loans for supporting French cinema. The Toubon law, from
the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it, makes it
mandatory to use French in advertisements directed to the general public. Note
that contrary to some misconception sometimes found in the Anglophone media,
the French government neither regulates the language used by private parties in
non-commercial settings, nor makes it compulsory that France-based WWW sites should be in French.
France counts many regional languages, some of them being very different
from standard French such as Breton (a Celtic
language close to Cornish
and Welsh) and Alsatian (an Alemannic dialect
of German). Some
regional languages are Roman,
like French, such as Occitan.
The Basque
language is completely unrelated to French and, indeed, to any other
language in the world; its area straddles the border between the south west of
France and the north of Spain.
Many of those languages have enthusiastic advocates; however, the real
importance of local languages remains subject to debate. In April 2001, the
Minister of Education, Jack Lang, admitted formally that for more than
two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed
regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized,
and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. In French schools,
pupils are expected to learn at least two foreign languages, the first of which
is typically German or English.
A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was implemented by the Parliament in
Congress at Versailles in July 2008.France is a secular
country where freedom of thought and of religion
is preserved, by virtue of the 1789 Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic
is based on the principle of laïcité,
that is of freedom of religion (including of agnosticism
and atheism)
enforced by the Jules Ferry laws
and the 1905
law on the separation of the State and the Church,
enacted at the beginning of the Third Republic
(1871–1940). A long history of violent
conflict between groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church
early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a
totally secular public sector.
Traditional French culture places a high priority on the enjoyment of food.
French cuisine was codified in the 20th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier
to become the modern version of haute cuisine.
Escoffier's major work, however, left out much of the regional character to be
found in the provinces of France. Gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin
helped to bring people to the countryside during the 20th century and beyond,
to sample this rich bourgeois
and peasant cuisine of
France. Basque
cuisine has also been a great influence over the cuisine in the
southwest of France.
Ingredients and dishes vary by region (see: Regional
cuisine). There are many significant regional dishes that have
become both national and regional. Many dishes that were once regional,
however, have proliferated in different variations across the country in the present
day. Cheese (see: List of French cheeses) and wine (see: French wine) are
also a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles both regionally and
nationally with their many variations and Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC)
(regulated appellation) laws, (lentils
from Le
Puy-en-Velay also have an AOC status). Another French product of
special note is the Charolais
cattle.
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