Abstract
Have you ever tried to fill in a job application form in the UK? If so, you may have been surprised, as a foreigner, to be asked the colour of your skin (white British, white West European, white East European, black, etc.). In France such a thing has long been unfeasible, even if today, the debate is re-opened between those who think it is a restriction to individual freedom and those who think it makes it easier to fight discrimination. Such a question however does not really seem to bother anyone in the United Kingdom. Far from it. This country has long been proud of its multicultural dimension, fiercely criticizing the assimilation model of France. And yet, looking back at the history of Britain, discrimination has always existed and socioeconomic inequalities have progressively turned into a more cultural or ethnic exclusion.
