French Upper Middle Classes in London : Illusions, Circulations and Rootedness

Upper middle classes in London had everything ....so they thought : prestige and recognition from the British population, professional success, the amenities of the British cosmopolitan city... and a French way of life in particular enclaves.

The analysis of three waves of original interviews in London (2017, 2019, 2004) reveals 1) the trauma of Brexit and the adaptation strategy of this group both transnationally and within London and 2) a more differentiated pattern between those who take london as one destination among a professional trajectory that brings them also to New York, HK and Singapore and those French whose experience in London is the only transnational experience, organising their life between Paris and London. The research also contrasts those who stay in the traditional enclave of Kensington and those who followed the opening of about 10 French schools in the greater London with more disperse and diverse way of life.

The paper is a contribution to the hypothesis about the making of a transnational upper middle class between Paris and London and the game of distance and proximity they play in London with other social and ethnic groups.