What became of the second generation? The children of European immigrants in France between the world wars

Due to the absence of aggregated data, not much is known about the social or geographical mobility of migrants and migrant families who settled in France in the 1920s and 1930s. This article presents two case studies to consider the social mobility of the sons of European immigrants who settled in the Cher department. Frequent but slight upward mobility was the rule. Whereas the fathers were mostly semi-skilled or unskilled workers, their sons often moved to skilled factory jobs. Still belonging to the working class, they had bettered their positions and social status. The possibility of extending this conclusion to other parts of France is discussed.