ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the dynamics of democracy, as they are fueled by an ambition to ensure real equality, and no longer just the formal equality of individuals. It stimulates debate about the limits and the very contents of a citizenship still judged to be formal or insufficient with regards to the democratic ideal. The book describes that the intervention State acknowledges and takes care of the rights of salary-earners: their rights to material subsistence, to housing, as well as to medical care and education or–to use the democratic term–to "culture", such as it is defined in France by the like-named Ministry. It analyzes the specific trials encountered by the French Republic as it is faced with democratization and the increasingly "providential" aspect of society, not to mention the challenge of the united Europe project.
