Re-Envisioning the Reading Practices of Young People in France: Beyond the Opposition between Legitimistic Habitus and Popular Culture

The question of reading habits of young people, more often than not, mixes cultural questions with moral and political considerations, through a series of implicit homotheticisms between culture, humanist culture and literature, common heritage and social and cultural ties, all strongly linked to the school institution (Coulangeon, 2021). In this context, the pessimistic diagnoses on the evolution of reading, often correlated with the success of digital screens, take on a general scope, and is even sometimes considered as an indication of de-civilization (Desmurget, 2019). Nevertheless, some transformations should be more discussed, such as:

1. the modification of the hierarchy of educational skills: humanities have been replaced by technical/scientifical knowledge in the selection process in the school system and new educational capital have emerged that do not rely on reading in the same way (Prieur & Sagave, 2013),
2. the digital convergence and the effects of transmedia (Jenkins, 2013): star books (read and loved) are carried by adaptations in the cultural industries and not that much by the education system, which is regarded more critically and reading habits are distancing themselves of school values (observable in the dislikes declared by young people).
3. the transformation of books and papers: the types of books (literature is far from being the yardstick), just as the types of reading (Mauger et al, 2010) have multiplied (blogs, Wattpad, webtoon,), detached from the literary form valued in the school setting as well as from linear and concentrated reading, these new forms often being strongly linked to banal writing practices (Mongenot and Cordier, 2023).

Analyzing young people's reading habits (using a quantitative survey providing information on reading habits, interests, likes and dislikes), the presentation will question the changes in the digital era in reading behaviors, including their social and cultural meanings.