There is a study about the year 2013 that was published very recently in the journal Sociologie. It can be found here: [https://la-sphinx.fr/les-concours-ne-s-not-neutres/]. This study shows, in an emblematic case study, how much inequalities in France are reproduced from generation to generation: for example, the children of blue-collar workers make up only 1.1% of the students at the Ecole Polytechnique while France’s workforce is comprised of 29.2% of such workers; in contrast, the children of executives and intellectual professionals constitute, for their part, 80% of the pupils of this great school, though such workers are only 20% of the population. Furthermore, half of the students at the Ecole Polytechnique come from two high schools, one Parisian, the other in Versailles. Worse still, nearly one in two Polytechnic students passed his Brevet des Collèges (French Certificate of general education) in an academy in the Paris region! In addition, a male candidate is twice as likely to be accepted than a female candidate and almost all Polytechnic women are from white-collar families …
This situation is tragic. It demonstrates that cultural capital is, more than ever, the key to academic success. It is also the case for science-related subjects, where cultural determinants are assumed to be lower than in other subjects. The situation has worsened: the children of blue-collar workers were much more numerous in this great school a few decades ago.
Success in higher education is certainly not the only way to a “good life.” However, it is likelier the main way to earn decent money. This is also problematic for two reasons: a large part of the population loses the chance to succeed, and our country loses an infinite number of scientific talents that are unable to reveal themselves.
The effects of group ascription and intra-grouping are not limited to students: ministers, members of ministerial offices, business leaders also come from these schools. And, thus from these social circles.
Intra-grouping has become absolute and it largely explains certain speeches of political leaders: when you come from these social circles and that you have everything to succeed, you think that there are no reasons for another to complain; that it is easy for one to find his way, and it is even inexcusable not to find it. In these social groups, unemployment is not an option, nor is it a risk that they face.
But here’s the thing: this is the case for only a fifth, a quarter at most, of the population. Are the others condemned to only survive? To expect only a minimum income and pension? Must we simply implement a policy of assistance for these folks?
It is not only unique to France. In countries where it is necessary to pay for access to higher education, there is an added financial segregation that is even greater than in France, and young people from lower income backgrounds are indebted for life because of their studies.
And, of course, this is cumulative. The children of this current generation will be proportionately more numerous in these schools; we will gradually create a double humanity, where cultural capital will complement genetic capital, one reacting to the other, because only those with the financial and cultural means will be able to succeed intellectually and transmit these means to their children.
One can even imagine the dystopia, like an episode of Black Mirror, where humanity would no longer be divided into more or less hermetic social classes, but into genetically different groups whose interactions would be severely limited, if not forbidden. We are not far. At least in the vocabularies that leaders use today. In any case, it is urgent to stop this dynamic.
Of course, a policy that refuses this social intra-grouping cannot have immediate success. This supposes a tenacious and global action. Fortunately, it has begun in France by the doubling of access to early childhood education in troubled neighbourhoods. But it is far from sufficient and it would be even more tragic to abandon those we’ve led to believe that they may have an opportunity to succeed. Without a doubt, it will also be necessary to fund them also, until the end of secondary school, private lessons and even boarding schools for those who may not be able to blossom in their familial environment.
If such policies were seriously implemented, there would be fewer places for the children of executives in the Grandes Ecoles. Moreover, those who run the country today will not easily give up the privileges reserved for their children.
The greatness of a politician is judged precisely by his ability to resist the urges of the social group that brought him to power.
j@attali.com