Reconversion and restructuring of elites: the case of the nobility

Abstract

In France aristocrats form a group that has not had legal nor judicial existence for more than two hundred years. In most cases they have great difficulty and strong resistance to planning and achieving reconversion. However, recently a significant number of aristocrats have managed to reconvert their social and symbolic resources (family and school networks, family names, titles, etc.) into economic resources. They have gone into activities such as advertising, public relations, management, the art market, etc., in which are valued the qualities of presentation and representation, and the art of acquiring and managing relationships and a name. The article examines the various factors which can encourage or discourage aristocrats to reconvert - the state of the employment market, the volume and structure of the various resources, the characteristics of the family and of the people involved, and the reactions of competing social groups. The article also analyses other cases of reconversion, in particular that of high-level civil servants who move to the private sector. From various studies it should be possible to gradually elaborate a model that explains the different types of reconversion and reclassification of elites.