La quête des apparences : l’habit fait-il le notaire ? La mise en image d’un métier et d’un groupe professionnel

Abstract

The article analyzes the way in which notaries see themselves and wish to be seen, starting with the visual representations of notarial work by the profession, its members and external image makers. In a notary's office represented as an intellectual profession implying the virtues of authority and long forbidden to women, masculine behavioral and clothing norms remain prevalent. Having a statutory function, clothing contributed to both professional appearance and the distinction of a social group of notables. It is also part of the construction of the image of a notary occupying a position of arbitration and advice, both at a distance and listening to clients. However, the codes vary within this heterogeneous universe. Moreover, the group is undergoing significant dynamics linked to the growth of its workforce, generational changes and its feminization. Its image reflects this diversity and these changes, in particular the rise of entrepreneurial logics which, along with the promotion of signs of modernity, help to blur certain attributes historically associated with this profession...

Keywords

• images
• notary work
• notaries
• gender
• clients
• professional rhetoric