Élites, mais pas tant que ça

Abstract

The notion of elites has emerged in the United States and Western Europe to categorize dominant groups at the expense of alternative notions, such as the upper classes. Based on a study of the trajectories of candidates, students and graduates from a network of selective higher education institutions, this article examines the choice of categories used to qualify these trajectories. It shows that the elite category does not allow for a precise analysis of the participants’ positions and mobility, due to the problems of definition and delimitation it poses. The upper class approach seems to be more appropriate, as it comes from a statistical and sociological tradition that is better established in France.

Keywords

• elites
• upper classes
• stratification
• education
• French Grandes écoles