Olivier DONNAT
december 2011
12 p.

The Pratiques culturelles des Français (French cultural practices) survey has been carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Communication since 1973 and measures penetration rates within the French population of the main forms of access to culture. Comparing thirty-five years’ worth of sociological surveys conducted at ten-year intervals requires several methodological precautions to be put in place before data can be analysed. One must consider structural changes in society at demographic, economic and social level, and also identify the effects of era, generation and supply. Furthermore, cultural practices themselves and, more generally, means of accessing culture have changed over the last thirty five years, influenced particularly by technological innovations. Finally, this document revisits the interpretation of the processes often used in analysing the evolution of cultural practices, such as feminisation, elitisation or democratisation and juvenilisation.