Mobilization and disengagement: Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in urban France

This article is an exploration of the political and economic forces which condition the possibilities for political engagement among a segment of the petty bourgeoisie in urban France. By drawing on Bourdieu's idea of habitus, I explore the ways in which the ideologies and practices of petty capitalism incline the Chinese small entrepreneurs toward political abstinence as they confront the changes in norms of citizenship that accompany neoliberal transformation. Keywords: Chinese; migrants; politics; class; France; citizenship. DOI: 10.1080/01419870903023678