School-linking processes : describing and explaining their role in the social closure of French elite education
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16 octobre 2012
- handle: 10670/1.qfxt8m
- halshs: halshs-00744718
- doi: 10.1007/s10734-012-9587-3
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s10734-012-9587-3
Mots-clés
France Grandes Ecoles Preparatory classes (CPGE) School-linking process Selection Social inequalitiesSujets proches
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Hélène Buisson-Fenet et al., « School-linking processes : describing and explaining their role in the social closure of French elite education », HAL-SHS : sciences politiques, ID : 10.1007/s10734-012-9587-3
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Résumé
In France, while schools are supposed to be sources of social mobility, as in any democratic society, it appears that children from privileged socio-economic categories are increasingly overrepresented in preparatory classes for the Grandes Ecoles. The French studies trying to understand elite reproduction have mainly focused on family inheritance overlooking the fact that social privilege is also mediated through institutions, as highlighted by the scientificliterature on selective admissions in the US. Following such line of inquiry, this article aims to show how patterns of ''school-linking processes'' allow for social closure in France's first-class higher education. It presents a comparative case study research which is both descriptive and explanatory in design. Results combine quantitative data to identify the secondary schools that feed the elite paths of three major high schools offering preparatory classes; and qualitative data in order to understand the strategies of these three major high schools to select their applicants.(...)