Twilight of the Elites, Christophe Guilluy
Twilight of the Elites, Christophe Guilluy
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Twilight of the Elites
Prosperity, the Periphery, and the Future of France

Author: Christophe Guilluy, Malcolm DeBevoise

Narrator: Roger Clark

Unabridged: 5 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/14/2019


Synopsis

A passionate account of how the gulf between France's metropolitan elites and its working classes are tearing the country apart

Christophe Guilluy, a French geographer, makes the case that France has become an "American society"—one that is both increasingly multicultural and increasingly unequal. The divide between the global economy's winners and losers in today's France has replaced the old left-right split, leaving many on "the periphery."

As Guilluy shows, there is no unified French economy, and those cut off from the country's new economic citadels suffer disproportionately on both economic and social fronts. In Guilluy's analysis, the lip service paid to the idea of an "open society" in France is a smoke screen meant to hide the emergence of a closed society, walled off for the benefit of the upper classes. The ruling classes in France are reaching a dangerous stage, he argues; without the stability of a growing economy, the hope for those excluded from growth is extinguished, undermining the legitimacy of a multicultural nation.

About Christophe Guilluy

Christophe Guilluy is a French geographer and the author of several books, including La France peripherique: comment on a sacrifie les classes populaires. He also writes occasionally for the Guardian.


Reviews

Goodreads review by P.E. on September 30, 2021

States within the state In this essay, the geographer C. Guilluy develops the following thesis: the metropolization of France (view spoiler)[that is, the process leading to the concentration of public investments, jobs pools and wealth in general (hide spoiler)] serves as the kingpin of the ongoing process of globalization. It lea......more

Goodreads review by David on December 25, 2018

France is losing its soul, and the majority – the working class – is paying for it. Twilight of the Elites examines the differences between the cities and peripheral France. The cities are booming and buoyant and privileged – and totally out of reach of the majority. Christophe Guilluy says “A globa......more

Goodreads review by Yves on October 19, 2016

Dans son dernier opus, le géographe Christophe Guilluy reprend la thèse provocatrice qui avait fait le succès de ses deux précédents essais : "Fractures françaises" (2013) et "La France périphérique" (2015). Cette thèse a le mérite de la simplicité : deux France s'opposent, la France des métropoles,......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on February 07, 2020

This book is an attack on me personally, me, Brandon Istenes, a Very Serious Leftist who is also a salaried professional. It leaves no ambiguity about that. Regardless of how good or bad this book actually is, I don’t think any book has ever left me so completely unrooted, so deeply unsettled. It is......more

Goodreads review by Jonathon on June 21, 2022

3.5 but rounded down. He has some excellent points about the hallowing out of the economy, the negative effects of globalization, and the problems with the neo-lib consensus. Overwhelmingly repetitive, and his arguments against multiculturalism didn't hold up. I found myself skimming near the end. A......more