“We read a lot between the ages of 35 and 65, and also when we are at university; before and after, there is a relative collapse” believes Jean Viard

Reading for pleasure is less and less obvious for young people. On the occasion of the Paris Book Festival, sociologist Jean Viard looks back at the decline in reading among young people in recent years.

The Paris Book Festival will close its doors tomorrow evening at the Grand Palais Ephémère. Reading for pleasure is becoming increasingly rare among younger people, according to a recent survey carried out among 7 to 19 year olds for the National Book Center. Jean Viard, you are a sociologist, but also an editor at Editions de l’Aube.

franceinfo: Among 16/23 year olds, one in three young people do not read at all in their free time. Does that surprise you?

Jean Viard: It is true that among average readers, particularly young people, there has been a slight decline in recent years, undoubtedly linked to the fact that they have a wide range of leisure activities. And then, did the school start reading texts that help young people understand the world in which they live? We have a culture of classics, so we read Racine, Corneille, Stendhal, all great French authors. Which is very good, but wouldn’t children, young people, the books they want to read be books that talk about the life they have, neighborhood life, war? , contemporary thrillers, mangas.

Yes, indeed, that’s what they read as a priority, when it comes to reading for pleasure, they turn to comics and manga

It’s true that Asian mangas are hugely successful and, as a result, we have a manga generation that goes to bookstores, it gets you used to using a book for information, I see that positively. I think there is a huge amount of work to be done for schools to say: what does a 12/13 year old want to read, including sentimental novels? ladies fashion for example. So, that’s a big question. Should schools be directing children to books that are being produced now by people who are trying to have public appeal? What place does it have in their education? I think that it also depends on the teachers, so we shouldn’t generalize too much. And then there is competition of activities. Before, in popular circles, there were no books, how many great writers say that there were no books among them.

So let’s pay attention to a fundamental movement which is the democratization of education and therefore of reading. And the second question is a decline in competition between leisure activities. And there, the book has a job to do to access the text, but let’s never forget that young people are reading more and more on their mobile phones.

So what you’re telling us, ultimately, is that we shouldn’t necessarily oppose books and screens?

I am a little afraid of alarmist speeches, often a little from those of the social elites who say: but in my community, we read less, which is true, since the big readers have disappeared a lot. So I am very sensitive to this question, but I am also sensitive to the other question, that is to say among children, who really teaches a child to read? It’s his parents, and it’s the school. So the parents, we can see the direct influence very well, and the school, we could perhaps think about it more.

One in five young people interviewed as part of this study carried out for the National Book Center say that none of their parents read books…

Of course, but when we say 1 in 5 young people, we forget to say what the level of education of the parents is. The child of a worker has a one in two chance of never having seen his parents read. So only 15% of executives don’t read. The real question is social. There is also the other at the end of the road where we actually have more and more retirees who read little, because they themselves had only a short education, and basically have never read.

We read a lot between the ages of 35 and 65, that’s when we read the most, we read a lot when we’re at university and then before and after, there’s a relative collapse. For very old people, it is difficult to change the policy since it comes from their childhood. Among young people, parents must say to themselves, it’s simple, if you take your child once a week to a library or bookstore and you say to them “Buy yourself a book”, there is a good chance that he becomes a reader.