Authority

Autorité

acceptable, necessary, everywhere

bureaucrats, rules, red tape, obedience

control, hold,

Discipline, coercion

fair, power, bribes, unjust

Government, Boss, Manager

government, boss, money

government, order, hierarchy

Government, Power, Responsibility

Government, School, Institution

hippies, government, leader

Justice, Laws, Government

Oppression, Order, Discipline

overpowering, large, important

parents, teachers, law

power, conflict, decision

power, God (in a book), dominate

Professor, intimidate, experience

rules, strict, safety

South Park, Respect, Police

strong, commanding, leader

stubbornness, issue, communism, prison

commander,obéir,Légitimité

devoirs, règles, importance

Gouvernement, police, dirigeants

gouvernement, sécurité, droits

Ordre, Abus, Pouvoir

parentale, domination, hiérarchie

parentale, nécessaire, abusive

Parents,discipline,règles,ordre

police, loi, patron

Police, Parents, Juge

Police, Pouvoir, Parents

Police, Prison, Justice

pouvoir, obéissance, soumission

pouvoir,police,argent

règle,travail,décision

Répression, diriger, imposer

répression, supérieur, contraindre

Respect, dictature,

Discussion

It seems that authority has a lot of bad words associated with it. Why do you think a lot of French and American students perceive authority as something bad?
One interesting thing: a lot of French students mentioned parents when they thought about authority, while Americans did not. Why do you think this is? How do you perceive your parents? As role models, friends or authority? Or all of them?

I also found it interesting that many American students associated authority with the government, while the French students associated it with the police. It there a cultural or practical gap between the government and the police in France? Are these two units thought about as totally seperate? If they aren't, why does only the police get the designation of "authority"?

Bonjour,

La différence qu’Elise a pu faire et la même que j’ai  pu constater entre les étudiants Français et Américains. Je pense qu’en France, la police est perçue comme l’autorité car elle est à mon humble avis l’une des rares entités qui utilise l’autorité pour se faire respecter.  Si les étudiants on tout de suite penser à la police c’est peut être parce que tout le monde n’est pas d’accord sur l’utilisation que la police fait de cette autorité. On peut voir cette divergence dans la rubrique police. Pour les Américains la police est celle qui applique l’ordre et la  loi alors que pour les Français c’est celle qui utilise son autorité pour punir par des amendes, contraventions ou autres. De plus, pour répondre à une des questions posées, en France, la police est séparée de l’Etat et elle  se doit d’être neutre.

Bonjour,

Pour nous, les policiers sont plus vus comme des réprimandeurs que comme des protecteurs.

Pour nos parents, ce sont généralement des modèles. Nous ne souhaitons pas les décevoir même si nous avons tous eu notre période rebelle contre eux.

I think perhaps in America children have less respect for family and in this case parents esspecially. Is this maybe why Americans did not mention parents? As well, for associations to "Family", there were not negative connotations listed by the French, but some for the Americans. Does this have to do with the same thing?

I think that kids in my country nowadays are considering different people as authorities compared to 20-30 years ago when the opinion of the oldest members of the family were laws and everyone followed these laws. Today, parents' advice seems to be less important that this of friends, older brothers, roommates or classmates. I don't know if that is the same in America, but I am assuming so from what I've seen so far.Is that what is happening in France as well?

When I hear the word authority, I would tend to relate to bad things like overuse of power. Maybe the culture of Cambodia, where I am from, is more on the softer side that we tend to think if you own power you would be mroe likely to take advantage of people. However, it's interesting to see a lot of people also associated this to bad meanings but for different reasons.

 

SAMBALA PAULE: I'm not sure if most people here have such a rosy view the police as you think. I don't have any first hand experience with abuse of power, but I've certainly seen overt display of power by the police. 

Another explanation for the frequency of government on the American side might be how people here view the government and the polarized politics. Are people in France happy with the government? Are students general happy with the government?

Il faut savoir qu'en France, les policiers ont la consigne de faire un minimum de chiffre. Il reçoivent des primes en fonction de leurs résultats.

Cela se traduit par la multiplication des contrôles (contrôle des excès de vitesse, contrôle des zones de garement des voitures, contrôle de l'alcoolémie, ...).

Tout ceci ajoute plus un sentiment de peur qu'un sentiment de sécurité.

Concernant le gouvernement, les lois ou les décrets qu'il décide sont souvent contestés par les français. En conséquence, nous faisons beaucoup de grèves pour manifester notre mécontentement. L'exemple le plus récent est la réforme des retraites.

One of the words that the American students tend to not associate with authority that the French students do is Parents. When you say authority, is that because they are the head of the family or because you have a great deal of respect for them? If so, then do you associate respect with everybody in an authority position?

I also noticed that French students used Parents significantly more than U.S. students. Would you say that parents are stricter in France, or is it a matter of respect that causes you to associate parents with authority?

I think sometimes Americans give the authorities too much power and there is a disconnect between what you should be responsible for and what the law,police,etc are responsible for. I think government is seen as authority more for Americans because they can exercise a more oppressive force. Here you can be "emancipated" from parents before you reach adulthood but the only way to get emancipated from the government is to leave the country.Do the French have a culture more centered around family?

@ Julien Lauterie

It is interesting that you mentioned a difference between fear and security. I think it is a large issue in America. In some cases, it is good to instill some fear to maintain order. However, it is difficult to define where there is enough fear that the government becomes a tyranny. Since the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, America's national security has been greatly increased. Unfortunately, this meant impinging on some of our freedoms of privacy.

What do you think about France's governmental authority? Do you think that it is too strict?

@Adrian

Pour ma part en france, l'autorité n'est pas trop stricte, c'est juste que les systèmes qui représente l'autorité profite de leurs situation. Heureusement, il y a des bons représentants, mais il y a aussi des mauvais.

 

Je pense que ces partout pareil, non?

@ Benji,

 

Yes, This is the same in the United States. I guess my view of the bad representatives could stem from the fact that I have different views from those who elected them. How does the election process work in France? Is it similar to the U.S. where different districts elect their representatives?

Bonjour,

Quand on parle d'autorité la pluspart des gens pense au Droit ou au pouvoir de commander et de se faire obeir et donc de ce point de vue ce n'est pas valorisant.

Or l'autorité pourrait-etre defini comme etant une personne, oeuvre, opinion qui servent de référence, auxquels on reconnait une valeur certaine.