Les artisans en milieu rural, une force entravée

Although the environment in which they have developed is essentially urban, englobing more than 250 000 enterprises, French artisans make up one of the crucial economic components of rural society. Little present in local power structures and fragmented amongst diverse and multiple professional forms of representation, it is only recently that artisans have attempted to formulate a collective strategy for rural areas. The principal handicap stems from their mode of action which favours a view of the profession in its sector rather than as regards its localisation. Contrary to this trend, any policy which differentiates between localities, or attempts, through diversification, to attenuate the specificities of the profession, is seen as a threat to equality- based competition between companies. These reasons explain why artisans have very often been on the defensive when confronted with policy propositions from agriculture or public authorities.