Did the socialist victory in 1981 have a long term impact for France?

[buritobr]

Mitterrand was elected in 1981. So, France kept not following the orientation of the other three big western powers. During the progressive wave of the late 1970s, when Carter, Callaghan and Schmidt were leaders of their countries, France had Giscard d'Estaing. During the conservative wave of the 1980s, when Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl were leaders of their countries, France had Mitterrand.
Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995. The government was led by the socialist party from 1981 to 1986, and from 1988 to 1993 (10 years). France had a left-wing government during the 1980s conservative wave in the developed world, when most of the liberal (liberal in non-American meaning) policies were implemented.
France is one of the few OECD countries in which the size of public sector (government spending/GDP) increased from 1981 to 2017. The public sector decreased in Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, UK and remained stable in the USA and Germany. France is also one of the few OECD countries in which the income inequality remained stable from 1981 to 2017. The Gini Coefficient increased in other OECD countries.

Do you think that these differences were result of the socialist victory in 1981?

[parochial boy]

I don't know. Even the Gaullist right have been pretty reluctant to implement liberal reforms when in power. Chirac, Sarko and all have all promised various sorts of liberalisation, but never really followed through.

You could argue that this because Gaullism as an ideology is inherently dirigiste, and not willing to wholesale turn the state over to the private sector; or it could just be that the French are bloody minded enough that they refuse to let any sort of change like that (especially an Anglo-Saxon invention like Liberalism) actually happen

[Kringla Heimsins]

Do you think that these differences were result of the socialist victory in 1981?

It played a great role, but it shouldn't be overestimated.

First, we must not forget that there was a "cohabitation" (i.e. the party that controls the Assemblée Nationale, and thus the Premier Ministre and the government, is not the party of the President) bewteen 1986 and 1988, and between 1993 and 1995. During these years, we had a bizarre mix of right and left economic policies. It is also worth noting that after 1983, the government turned away from truly socialist policies in order to implement liberal reforms such as privatization of the highways and so on.  The biggest legacy of Mitterrand would be an increase of welfare.

What's truly remarkable is that our following right-wing governments didn't pull a Thatcher on us and tried to maintain a reasonable intervention of the State in the economy.

Mitterrand's presidency was however huge for many social issues : abolition of the death penalty, decriminalization of homosexuality, the authorization of private radio and television stations.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes: it meant the end of the Communist Party as a major political force and there was some overdue liberalisation here and there. But other than that, no, not particularly; the economic policies that Mitterrand attempted to implement during his first term were a famous failure.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Mitterand abandoned Socialism in 1983 (a key symbolic moment in the history of Europe) and after that spent the next twelve years trying to Make France Great Again in a very French Aristo way. So unless you are a fan of grand pharanoic structures and Art gallerys, not really.