Why do some elites survive while others do not? How do certain institutions manage to preserve their importance in the face of crises, instability, and change? How does a democratic society legitimize elitist institutions? Combining the use of important social theories―particularly those of Mosca, Schumpeter, Tocqueville, and Pareto―with empirical analysis, Ezra Suleiman tries to answer these questions in his examination of the dominance and stability of France's governing elites. The author draws on original survey data, historical evidence, and specialized documentary sources. His three part discussion deals, first, with the state institutions that nurture the French elite; second, with the organization, legitimization, and adaptation of the elite and its institutions; and third, with some of the policy and political implications of France's elitist system. In the final section of his book, he closely examines the relationship between elites in the public and private sectors. In his investigation of France's "state-created" elites, Professor Suleiman shows the great importance of the grandes écoles in training and promoting the elites, and the grand corps in providing a base from which the elites launch themselves into extra-governmental careers. He also finds that the elites' capacity to adapt to an evolving social, political, and economic environment is a major factor in their ability to survive. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Elites in French Society The Politics of Survival By Ezra N. Suleiman PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1978 Princeton University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-691-10071-5 Contents LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES, ix, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, xiii, INTRODUCTION, 3, Part One FOUNDATIONS, One STATE-CREATED ELITES, 17, Two THE BASIS OF ELITE FORMATION: THE UNIVERSITIES VS. THE GRANDES ECOLES, 31, Three THE SANCTITY OF THE GRANDES ECOLES, 57, Part Two SURVIVAL, Four POSITIONS, 95, Five SELF-IMAGE AND LEGITIMACY, 126, Six NONSPECIALIZATION AND ORGANIZTIONAL DEXTERITY, 158, Seven ADAPTATION, 193, PART THREE CONSEQUENCES, Eight THE ELITE AND THE NEW ECONOMY, 223, Nine THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND THE STATE, 251, Ten CONCLUSION, 276, BIBLIOGRAPHY, 283, INDEX, 295, CHAPTER 1 STATE-CREATED ELITES A distinction needs to be drawn between societies that possess elite-creating mechanisms and societies that make no institutional provisions for the creation of their elites. The more established the mechanisms are, the more likely are the elites to be characterized by or grouped into a series of small circles, as well as by a well-regulated system of networks among these circles. Moreover, the offices which these elites occupy are likely to be endowed with considerable prestige, even with a certain degree of charisma. France has one of the most clearly established mechanisms for the creation of its elites of any Western society. This is principally due to the fact that the state takes it upon itself to form the nation's elites. The state has thus devised a system that is complex and elaborate, tying as it does the professional training of the elites to their corporate organizations. To explain France's elitist structure, we must begin by understanding the organization of the educational system that creates the elites. Basis for State Monopoly The development of secondary and higher education in France, and the ultimate control of both educational levels by the state, were the result of a political philosophy which has lost little of its force over the past century and a half. Ultimately, there was little pedagogical basis for the centralization of the educational system in the hands of the state. Indeed, pedagogy itself came to be seen as a derivative of the political aims of the state. The state's monopoly over the educational system has had two important consequences: it has not allowed the development of institutions that might rival the state's own, and it has meant that the state has taken it upon itself to ensure that the entire responsibility for the training of its leaders would be its alone. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the ultimate purpose was to regulate not only those elites destined directly for state service (military officers, engineers, teachers) but others whose functions were considered necessary for any prosperous, ambitious, and well-ordered society. Hence, the Napoleonic reforms sought