The Impact of the November 13, 2015, Attacks on French Society

As part of the November 13 Program, led by the CNRS, Inserm, and heSam University, and involving 31 partners, a series of 11 questions regarding the attacks of November 13, 2015, was included—seven months after the events—in the “Living Conditions and Aspirations of the French” survey conducted by the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc). This survey has been conducted twice a year on a representative sample of the French population for the past forty years. The questions regarding these events will be tracked over time (two years after the initial survey, then five and ten years later) to provide contextual insights into the process of memorializing the November 13 attacks within French society. It thus contributes to the transdisciplinary research program 13-November, which studies the construction and evolution of the memory of these attacks by examining the relationship between individual and collective memory. The study confirms that the November 13 attacks have left a very strong imprint on French society, seven months after they occurred. These terrorist attacks rank first among the attacks considered most significant since the year 2000. The impact of these attacks is also evident through their imprint on memory in terms of the precision of memories associated with the event, both personal (flashbacks) and factual (locations targeted). Those under 40 appear to have been particularly affected due to a certain identification with the targets of the attacks and the extent of media coverage, in a way that echoes September 11, 2001, which served as a generational marker for teenagers and young adults at the time. In French society as a whole, the November 13 attacks had various repercussions, among which stand out a climate of fear, increased security concerns, and worries regarding social cohesion.

Author(s): Hoibian Sandra, Mansencal Lucie Brice, Millot Charlotte, Truc Gérôme, Eustache Francis, Peschanski Denis

Publishing year: 2018

Pages: 772-781

Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin, 2018, n° 38-39, p. 772-781

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