May 1968? A question about it?

Question

What were the consequences of the students protests of May 1968 in France? I've been always told that they changed the face of France and that they were a very important event... in a positive way. But today I read in the newspaper that conservative's biggest victory in France was in 1968, because people were tired of the protests. So after all, I want to know how Frenchs of today see the 1968 protests (if good or bad and why) and how people of 1968 saw the protests? If it was so unpopular why it is considered so important?

Answer 1

These protests led to the eventual collapse of the de Gaulle government. Now, the French people consider them to be good because they allowed many of the freedoms that were already in the U.S. At that time, people were tired of the continual protests, which caused the rebellion upon the de gaulle government.

Answer 2

Well, I never thought they were important, but then I was just entering high school in the US. George Katsiaficas wrote a book, The Imagination of the New Left: A Global Analysis of 1968 (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1987). Kat says on p. 41 that Seymour Martin Lipset wrote on it, so you've now got two names to follow. Good luck.