Sociology doctoral student Théo Boulakia and historian Nicolas Mariot look back on the experience of the first confinement in France, which took place from March 17 to May 11, 2020 as part of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, in The Certification. A mass obedience experiment, spring 2020 (Anamosa, 400 pages, 25 euros). The opportunity to better study the drivers and effects in the short and medium term.
Your book opens with a detailed description of the measures taken by the government during these 55 days. What are the specificities of “French-style” confinement?
Theo Boulakia : The very existence of confinement distinguishes France from many other countries. If we understand by this term the general ban on leaving the home, except for exceptional reasons controlled by the police, few countries in Northern Europe have used it. Concretely, in France, the use of green spaces in spring 2020 fell by half compared to winter. In Denmark, during the same period, it doubled. Another example: in France, there are 1,630 fines per 100,000 adults, in the Netherlands, only 77.
Nicolas Mariot : The most striking aspect of the French experience is what we have called the “police for all”. In the space of 55 days, 28% of the population was checked at least once, including people little or not affected by ordinary identity checks, such as women, executives or people over 30 years old. . In departments like Sarthe or Lot, the police and gendarmerie carried out as many checks as there were adult residents.
The central device of this house arrest was the exceptional travel certificate. What was its nature?
N.M. : Initially, it was presented as an accountability device, similar to a sworn certificate: completing it was supposed to make people aware that any exit was an act with serious consequences, which involved everyone. But, from March 23, when time stamping of exits becomes mandatory, it has become a control device.
TB : With the certification, in France, the fight against the virus has transformed into
a fight against those who resist confinement. However, it took us time to measure the anxiety that this paper may have aroused in certain people, linked to the metamorphoses of public space, emptied of its human presences and its familiar elements. This “anxiety” from the outside was a decisive ingredient in confinement, and in particular that of women, who went out significantly less than men.
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