Are Parisians really rude or arrogant or is this another stereotype?
Introduction
One of the critical issues that affect the study of human behavior is the way different people understand the responses given and give an accurate report on their findings. Various individuals have engaged in numerous anthropological and ethnographic researches in attempts to understand why some communities behave in certain ways. A widely held serotype is that Parisians are rude and arrogant and they often show a significant level of dislike to non-Parisians. However, this can be treated as individual’s perception, and researchers would want to confirm whether such stereotype is true. Some individuals tend to place judgment on others’ culture without going into the ground to look for sufficient understanding of the history of those they judge to have a bad culture (Fielding, 1993). This paper will conduct an ethnographic analysis to investigate the truth of the stereotype that Parisians are arrogant and dislike tourists.
Review of literature survey
Many people often use the term arrogance to describe the French. Various individuals who have taken trips to France argue differently about their experiences with the French, particularly the Parisians. Some individuals who conducted ethnographic studies conclude that Parisians have a bad reputation due to their treatment of tourists with arrogance. Additionally, a significant number of foreigners who have lived with the French confess that Parisians tend to be more stuck to their culture, and they are very reluctant to accommodate the culture of foreigners. But even with such resistance, the level of arrogance found with these people has attracted the interest of various individuals who seek to investigate and justify this stereotype. Many people in the world consider Paris as one of the most attractive cities and they like touring the city (Fielding, 1993). People from different parts of the world have gone to Paris with different missions such as studying, touring, and starting their life there.
Some countries have encouraged people inclination to cultural values, and they disregard the cultures of other countries. Some of the developed countries tend to view the cultures of the developing countries as primitive and people living there as uncivilized. It is true to assert that some cultural values are true expressions of primitivity and lack of civilization. Some cultural beliefs held by some regions tend to undermine the dignity of people and ruin international relations. As much as people would want to maintain their culture, the understanding as well as an appreciation of others’ cultures becomes important to create international understanding and cultivate multicultural interactions. Different people who have lived with Parisians express varying opinions regarding their behavior although most of the people dwell on the argument that these people are arrogant. Thus, the main hypothesis formulated by most of the ethnographic researchers is that the stereotype held by many people with regards to Parisians’ behavior towards the non-Parisians is true.
Most Parisians believe that they are culturally superior and they tend to remain stuck to their culture to the extent that their interactions with non-Parisians are not favorable. As such, they are accused of being arrogant, an issue that is subject to empirical research to establish the truth. What makes many people to accuse Parisians as arrogant or dwell on the widely held stereotype concerning them are their experiences with Parisians in various facets of life. Various tools can be used to analyze different circumstances that would lead to reasonable conclusions regarding the hypothesized argument. However, the development of an appropriate tool that would help to analyze the argument without being biased or inclining so much to the literature is not very easy. Therefore, some researchers may end up basing their conclusions on literature rather than their research findings.
The description of the methods chosen
The main hypothesis the research is that the most widely held stereotype concerning the Parisians is true. The analysis involves collecting relevant information relating to this issue and using the information collected to test the claim. The collection of information will involve various tools and procedures to ensure the reliability and validity of the results. The Parisians live as a closed society that rarely discloses some information to foreigners. Some people who have lived in different places within Paris have witnessed this.
The interaction level of Parisians with non-Parisians is one of the areas that contain useful information that will guide ethnographic researchers to making their conclusions. The types of conversations that Parisians hold with their fellows and the conversations they hold with non-Parisians form an important basis for establishing the truth about the held stereotype. A conversation among Parisians can be described as friendly by -nature and the depth. Therefore, investigating the types of conversations and comparing the conversations between Parisians and non-Parisians is a major source of information. Thus, it will be one of the methods of collecting information. This information can be collected from learning institutions, workplaces, and other social institutions. The study will involve visiting these places and observing the level of multicultural interactions.
Another useful method is the one used by a French poll which involved labeling the Parisians as arrogance and self- regarding and collecting the relevant data to confirm this claim. In this method, ethnographers will visit various societies and live with them to observe the level of arrogance among people and where such arrogance is directed. Additionally, the method will involve questioning various groups of Parisians and non-Parisians to collect their views on the issue. According to the French poll, over 70% of the interviewed individuals were found arrogant. The collection of people’s opinion will involve sampling the population and using the questionnaires to gather information (Spradley, 1980). The sampling of the population will not be done in the scientific way to avoid letting people know that they are being studied because they may give biased information.
The use of the ethnographic method to collect data could be another technique for studying the behavior of the Parisians. This method entails observing the participants where the researchers directly involve themselves in the community. This involvement of the researchers in the life of the community provides them with an opportunity to observe and talk with people. In so doing, the researchers will be able to gather some information regarding the objective question. The ethnographic method involves making small samples of individuals who are likely to provide rich information and specialists who can give special information regarding the behavior of the community. Additionally, the method involves recording the information collected using diaries, field notes, photographic and videotapes, and journal entries (Richard and Nick, 2003). One of the challenges in using the ethnographic method to gather information is that it is difficult to obtain random samples due to difficulties to construct rapports with all the respondents involved. The use of ethnographic technique confirmed the claim. It found that the majority of Parisians are indeed arrogant and rude, particularly to foreigners.
The description of the patterns identified
One way to describe the behavior of a society comprising of a mix of people with different cultural affiliations is to observe the communication patterns among these people (Fielding, 1993). The Parisians interact in different ways with tourists and foreigners who live in various cities. Looking at the level of conversations between Parisians in the workplaces, it is apparent that they engage in friendly conversations with individuals from their cultural groups. The observation of the interrelationships among the Parisians and non-Parisians under natural setting shows great deviations compared to the same interrelationships among the Parisians. The use of special dialectics and jargons in conversations among the Parisians is an indication of their intention to remain as a closed society. Another special pattern observed among the Parisians is their pretense not to understand foreign languages. Individuals who take tours in France often have difficulties of exchanging information with Parisians or making any inquiries from them. This is due to the fact that most of the Parisians are very hesitant to encourage foreigners to learn their vernacular. They tend to use their local language and pretend not to known any foreign language. In their conversations with non-Parisians, the Parisians often mix the language to avoid letting the foreigners understand what they say.
The observation of social behavior which encompasses all forms of social interactions is another pattern observable during the ethnographic research. The pattern of social behavior as exhibited by variations in the levels of interactions and the way Parisians refrain from making the foreigners understand some of their local jargons. They use these jargons when they want to use arrogant words against foreigners. This constitutes an essential ingredient for ethnographic analysis. Most foreigners, especially the tourists claim that Parisians pretend that they don’t understand English and cannot use it even if they know it whenever they don’t want the foreigners to know what they are saying.
Significance of the findings
The ethnographic analysis utilized various tools to gather information. One of the methods involved the measurement of the level of interactions between Parisians and non-Parisians. This method was very instrumental to the analysis because it enabled the researchers to make relevant comparisons of interaction level between Parisians and non-Parisians. As a result, the ethnographic analysts are in a position to draw some meaningful conclusions concerning the study question. The use of poll results to determine the level of arrogance among the Parisians was significant in that it helped to collect public opinions on the issue where a large proportion of both Parisians and non-Parisians were involved. Additionally, polls results were useful in helping the analysts to understand what the Parisians say about the claim made by non-Parisians.
The ethnographic analysis involves the use of the ethnographic method of collecting information whereby researchers pretend to be active members of the Parisians community and interact with them to learn how they use language and how they articulate different words depending on the intended purpose. The findings from the analysis show that under natural setting, the Parisians do not have effective social interactions with non-Parisians. Additionally, the observation of social differences between Parisians and non-Parisians shows the unwillingness of the Parisians to accept foreign cultures and the accusation for being rude and arrogant.
Conclusion
The ethnographic analysis helps to analyze the social behavior that some analytical methods cannot analyze. It involves studying the social behavior of people and analyzing specific aspects critically to determine the truth about a particular claim. It helps to provide a substantial description of the community in question by analyzing the deviations that the community exhibit from other communities. From the ethnographic analysis of Parisians to test the claim that they are arrogance, it can be concluded that though it may be perceived as a culture, there is a significant level of arrogance portrayed by the Parisians. The various aspects investigated show that Parisians are hesitant to accommodate other cultures, and that could be one of the reasons as to why they are arrogant to foreigners. Various tourist claims that Parisians normally refuse to speak English even if they know it to conceal their arrogance. The majority of informants revealed in various studies that the stereotype held regarding the Parisians is true.
References
Fielding, N. (1993). “Ethnography”, in Gilbert, N, (Ed.), Researching social life, Sage, London.
Richard, E. and Nick, J.E. (2003). Using ethnography in strategic consumer research: Qualitative market research. An International Journal, 6(4), 215-223.
Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
