Abstract
Occupational illnesses are under-reported and under-recognized in France, as in other industrialized countries. They mainly affect people at the bottom of the social ladder and ethno-racial minorities. Recognition of an occupational disease is a social process that involves several stages. Not all pathologies resulting from occupational exposure are perceived as such by the people concerned. They are not always identified as work-related illnesses by the health professionals who may be consulted. And when they are, legal recognition is far from systematic, and does not always lead to financial compensation. The social and institutional logics that shape these different stages will be analyzed in the light of recent research in public health and sociology.
