Racism has been called a serious social issue in French society, despite a widespread public belief that racism does not exist on a serious scale in France. Antisemitism and prejudice against Muslims have a long history. Acts of racism have been reported against members of various minority groups, including Jews, Berbers, Arabs, Southeast Asians and East Asians. Police data from 2019 indicates a total of 1,142 acts classified as "racist" without a religious connotation.

In-depth assessing of the issue remains difficult as French law prohibits the government from collecting ethnic and religious census data (French: statistiques ethniques et religieuses). The National and Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission nationale et consultative des droits de l'Homme) reported in 2016 that only 8% of French people believe that some races are superior to others. French law legislates against racism. The Constitution of 1958 guarantees citizens equal treatment despite origin, race or religion. France was relatively early in history to have black people in a national parliament (1793, 1848 then 1891 and all years after) or in a government (1887, 1931, 1932–1933, 1937–1938), or as president of a house of parliament (1947–1968 in the Senate). Some black people have held decisive positions, such as military officer Camille Mortenol who commanded the antiaircraft defence of Paris against Germany in 1914–1918. It nurtured the idea of a national immunity against racism despite the growth of anti-Arab violent crimes in the 1960s–1970s following waves of Arabic immigration.

France has long been a secular state (French: État laïc). The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State established state secularism. The 2004 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans all conspicuous religious signs for students in schools; the 1905 law prohibits all non-neutral signs (political and religious) on the part of all people working for the state, most notably in the civil service, including teachers and all other staff in a school. Politicians are prohibited from expressing religious preferences in public including through religious clothing. French secular laws have been presented by minority groups, especially Muslims in recent years, hindering their ability to express their religion. In December 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Cerd) said it was "concerned" by "the persistence and extent of racist and discriminatory discourse in France, particularly in the media and on the Internet". At the end of the periodic review of France's policy towards its minorities, the independent experts of Cerd issued a series of observations and recommendations. They are concerned about the "racist political discourse held by political leaders", whose names are not mentioned, about certain minorities, in particular the Roma, travelers, Africans, or people of African descent. or North African.

French political tradition does not use the term "racial minority" in its discourse because all of the rights that the French Revolution represents lie on two notions: the notion of the state and the notion of man. Thus, French political tradition sees these rights as a universal and natural (or inalienable) benefit of being human.

Some believe that politicians' desire to adhere to these ideals leads to a lack of recognition of ethnic minority groups. The existence of minority ethnicities is recognized in many European nations by the judicial system and the political sphere. Some states give migrants specific rights such as the right to receive an education in their native language. France, however, does not allow these rights as it only recognizes rights in the context of citizenship and human characterization.

In this vein, the state has encouraged assimilationist policies. In particular, the government has sought that foreign-born nationals, who have acquired French nationality, be considered French and not by their ethnic self-identity. Many Arab Muslims in France identify as Muslim, rather than Algerian, Moroccan or Arab. This is based more on community and family ties than religious observance. It is said that the notion of ethnicity (ethnicité), when it is used in France, ignores reference to race, in contrast to perceived usage the term in North America and the United Kingdom, to focus on cultural aspects.

The Interior Ministry provides a set of descriptors to be used by the police to classify individuals in lieu of race. The descriptors are: européen (nordique, caucasien, méditerranéen); africain/antillais; métis; maghrébin; moyen-oriental; asiatique; indo-pakistanais; latino-américain; polynésien; mélanésien-canaque.

For each year since 1990, the National Commission on Human Rights (French: Commission nationale et consultative des droits de l'Homme), attached to the Office of the Prime Minister, publishes a report regarding the state of racism in France.