Modalities, implementation and limits of policies to open up higher education to society in France and affirmative action in Brazil

Abstract

The article offers an original contribution to a comparative study between the policies of social openness in higher education in France and affirmative action policies in Brazil. The article we met highlights the convergences and divergences between these two national contexts. These policies aim at a common objective, that of democratization at the levels and sectors of education considered to be the most promising, a renewal of the elites, and thereby a wider democratization of societies. These policies are also joined by the very keenness they arouse in bringing into play the level of social acceptability. However, they differ in terms of their implementation. While in Brazil, affirmative action policies in education are the product of constitutional reform and legislative work related to colonial history and slavery, in France policies of openness of higher education s social policies comply with constitutional principles unrelated to recognition of historical facts legitimizing positive discrimination in French context.