France, you love it but leave it: the silent flight of French Muslims

ABSTRACT In a context when Islamophobia peaked in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks, evidence has been mounting that a growing number of French Muslims have been leaving the country. This article explores, through a combination of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (semi-directed interviews) methods, some of the key drivers of this flight from France. Moral panics around secularism but more crucially questions of discrimination on the job market are at the heart of this silent flight from the country these people were born in. Ultimately, this emigration from France constitutes a real brain drain, as it is primarily highly educated French Muslims who decide to leave.