We knew that the children of executives were over -represented in the grandes écoles. We now know that children of graduates are more likely to enter these establishments than others. Stéphane Benveniste, a researcher in economics at the University of Aix-Marseille, analyzed, in his thesis supported in 2021, a dozen directories of grandes écoles among the most prestigious (apart from HEC Paris and CentraleuPélec, who refused to share their data) to calculate the probabilities of generational reproduction.
A total of 400,000 graduates were identified between 1885 and 2015, almost one French in 300. These surnames were then analyzed In terms of the careers of these graduates in French political life, the boards of directors of large companies, the attributions of the Legion of Honor … results in the line of the books of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, who invalidate the concepts of equal opportunities and meritocracy.
Why did you choose to study such a long historical period, from the end of the 19th centurye century to 2015?
The perspective offered by the long duration allowed me to better understand the remarkable stability of certain mechanisms of social reproduction. Despite the profound economic, cultural and educational transformations of French society since the end of the 19th century, the most prestigious grandes écoles remained the almost exclusive way to the summits of French society.
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