Roussillon Week: first of all, what is rentier culture?
Yves-Patrick Coléno: It is a set of behaviors and ways of thinking about the economy where one seeks to earn money from one’s property rather than through a production activity. Rentier behavior consists of asking yourself: “I have money, what could I buy that brings me the most without having to break my head?” HAS”. Rather than launching an organic pistachio crop or an electronics project, we bought an apartment in Canet to rent it in the summer and put it on Airbnb the rest of the time. We seek maximum performance for a minimum of personal involvement.
What explains such specificity in the OPs? Is this linked to our geography?
The explanation is above all historical. It stems from the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 which cut off Roussillon from its natural outlets to the south, such as Barcelona or Girona. By becoming a “foreign province” isolated by customs, the territory saw its proto-industry decline. The social structure then solidified: being an “owner” became the social Holy Grail to escape taxes and insecurity. It is a culture in the anthropological sense: a way of representing the world and what is right to do.
What link do you make between this culture of rent and the current precariousness of the department, whether in terms of unemployment or poverty?
The link is direct because the ideal rentier seeks to avoid taking charge of the workforce. This explains why the manufacturing industry is significantly less represented here than at the national level. Small structures are preferred: 84% of the department’s establishments have less than five employees because we are looking for the least involving investment possible. This generates strong salary insecurity with massive recourse to seasonal workers, fixed-term contracts or temporary work. By not engaging in long-term relationships with employees, we maintain a static dynamic where even the salaries of executives end up being lower. than elsewhere in France.
However, we have seen major projects emerge in the department, such as the urbanization of the coastline or Lake Raho. Isn’t that development?
These are operations that remain consistent with the rentier culture. Raho Lake, for example, was initially presented as a water reserve for agriculture, but above all it served as the basis for a dazzling real estate operation. Conversely, as soon as a project requires a collective or industrial vision, as was the case in Corbéres-les-Cabanes in the 1980s (project to rehabilitate the Montou hill and wind farm), we come up against resistance from owners who refuse to give in. the use of their plots. Property rights remain sacred and slow down innovation.
There are encouraging signals, particularly in a form of relocalization of agriculture. The department is the 5th in France for its organic surface area and a third of the farms now practice short circuit sales. We are slowly moving away from the model where we bought everything abroad to sell far away. Initiatives like Social Food Security could also recreate links between local producers and a precarious population. But this requires strong political will to support these collective movements in the face of rent-seeking reflexes.
Bibliography
• Conference “Questions for a future within our reach” by Hervé Blanchard and Yves-Patrick Coléno. Feb 6, 2026
• The treatment by economic and social sciences of employment in France: what place for “national minorities”? Quebec and international views. North, Quebec, Canada. Sep 1, 2022
• Teaching About the « Economic Crisis » Today. The Example of French « Economic and Social Sciences » Journal of Social Science Education. Feb 1, 2017
• About the use of the word « market » in the teaching of economics: the lexicon at work at the high school and at the university. Journal of Social Science Education. Dec 1, 2015
