French Culture explained

As a French native that has grown up in Vancouver, but lived quite a lot of time in France, there are a couple of things that are impossible to pass by. I apologize in advance for my fellow citizens if they disagree or feel disgusted. That's your right! The following are my personal thoughts plus the feedback from (happy) foreign friends living in France.

• Hate for social injustice and readiness to take actions against it. If something looks like social injustice, everyone will join protests / social movements, even if they are not directly concerned. There are quite a lot of street demonstrations going on in France all the time, which can be quite confusing to understand the claims of everyone, but it allowed the condition of working class to remain pretty decent and allowed them not to be entrapped in debt.
•  Depth of thinking. The French are never happy. Never. Even if everything is going perfectly, they will try to find something that doesn't. They are extremely wary of manipulations and PR techniques, are pretty good in History and seen what are the interests of social groups and particular public figures, so they will always look for what the "power" might be hiding from them. The main subject of discussion around the dining tables are politics and economy. You can have a PhD in economics and political science, you can still have a quite interesting talk about this subject with a worker from the nearest factory (who dropped out of school at the age of 16)
•  Living the present moment. For most of French the work is but a way to gain money for much more interesting activities that happen during the free time, like raising children, tasting wine and meals or going somewhere new for vacations. Despite being extremely productive and committed to the work, very few really consider it as a main thing and sees it more as a constraint then anything else. Hence there are lots of tension in the hierarchical relations within workplaces and a general feeling of lack of professional satisfaction. This is also a reason why French hate taking professional and financial risks. You are a professional success when you have a CDI with a decent salary.
•  High value of interpersonal relations. Little would matter more to French then their buddies, friends and significant others. In fact the self-fulfillment and self-realization are obtained much more through interpersonal relations then through profession or ownership of material things. Unlike in the US, when you have problems, you don't get drunk at a bar and talk about all of your problems to the barman / first stranger coming around. Your buddies are there to notice it and take care of you.

From a personal standpoint, I would also add that the dating pattern also defines quite a lot the French culture, but I would have trouble with formulating what is so particular about it. Perhaps that's what makes France such a great country, I'm happy to be French and will ever be.

Vive la France et Vive la République !