Stéphane Benveniste
Affiliated member
, Faculté d'économie et de gestion (FEG)
, Ined
- Status
- Postdoctoral fellow
- Thesis
- 2021, Aix-Marseille Université
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- CV
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Stéphane Benveniste, Alice Pavie, L'Année Sociologique, Vol. n° 252, No. 2, pp. e1-e31, 10/2025
Abstract
What are the key forces behind elite reproduction, and how do highly prestigious educational institutions contribute to them? This article uses the analytical framework of the Origin-Education-Destination (O-E-D) triangle to examine the dynamics specific to elites. Drawing on a synthesis of international research in sociology and economics, three key dimensions are explored. First, educational expansion has reinforced stratification, shifting competition toward access to the highest tiers of higher education—especially elite institutions, which serve as bastions of social reproduction. Second, this elite education ensures graduates substantial socio-economic returns. Third, access to elite status does not depend solely on educational credentials: the opportunities associated with a given degree vary according to social origin, and some individuals reach elite positions through alternative pathways outside education. This review concludes that education remains a central mechanism for perpetuating social hierarchies and securing access to the elite.
Keywords
Elites Education Social Mobility
Stéphane Benveniste, Alice Pavie, L'Année Sociologique, Vol. n° 252, No. 2, pp. 15-47, 10/2025
Abstract
Quelles sont les dynamiques de reproduction sociale des élites et comment les institutions d’enseignement les plus prestigieuses participent-elles à les entretenir ? Cet article mobilise le cadre analytique du triangle Origine-Éducation-Destination (O-E-D) pour examiner les processus spécifiques aux élites. Trois dimensions sont explorées à partir d’une synthèse de travaux internationaux en sociologie et en économie. D’abord, la façon dont la massification scolaire a renforcé la stratification de l’éducation, déplaçant la compétition vers l’accès aux plus hauts niveaux de l’enseignement supérieur, notamment aux institutions d’élite, bastions de la reproduction sociale. Ensuite, les avantages socio-économiques considérables conférés par ces cursus à leurs diplômés. Enfin, l’accès aux élites ne dépend pas uniquement des diplômes : les opportunités associées à un même cursus varient selon l’origine sociale, tandis que certains accèdent aux élites par des voies alternatives à l’éducation. Cet état de l’art conclut que l’éducation reste un vecteur central dans la perpétuation des hiérarchies sociales et l’accès à l’élite.
Stéphane Benveniste, Clefs concours, pp. 201-244, 01/2022
Stéphane Benveniste
Abstract
Dynasties constitute a visible sign of intergenerational persistence and raise questions about the legitimacy of the ruling elite. This paper uses data on graduates of elite colleges to explore the influence of political and business dynasties in France. I link nominative data on 103,309 graduates of 12 French Grandes ´ Ecoles born between 1931 and 1975 to their professional careers as politicians with national-level mandates or as board members of French firms. Identifying lineage through surnames, I find that sons of political and business leaders were substantially more likely than their graduate peers to pursue elite careers themselves, revealing a social gradient in returns to elite education. Political dynasties were particularly sizeable, although progressively declining. These dynasties also affected the composition of the French elite: fewer dynastical board members were graduates of top colleges than their first-generation colleagues. Yet, they were propelled much younger into top business and political positions.
Keywords
Politics, Business, Grandes Écoles, Elite Occupations, Intergenerational Mobility, Returns to College Education, Dynasties
Stéphane Benveniste
Abstract
While the educational expansion of the 20 th century promoted social mobility overall, the top of the social hierarchy may have remained privileged. This paper examines the evolution of intergenerational mobility in admissions to the French elite colleges-the Grandes Écoles (GE)-over more than a century. Admission to these institutions is subject to partially anonymous competitive examinations, and their degrees are the ticket to top positions in the public and private sectors. In the growing literature measuring intergenerational mobility through surnames, I design a novel method and apply it to a self-collected dataset on all 285,286 graduates from ten of the most prestigious Grandes Écoles between 1886 and 2015. Principally, I find that children of male GE graduates were highly over-represented in the top colleges throughout the 20 th century. Importantly, unlike previous studies exploiting fathers' socio-professional categories, I find a stable low level of intergenerational mobility for all cohorts born since 1916: chances of GE admission for children of GE graduates were approximately 80 times higher than for the rest of the population.
Keywords
N34 Intergenerational mobility, I23, JEL Classification J62, JEL Classification J62 I23 N34 Intergenerational mobility Higher education Elites Grandes Écoles Historical economics, Historical economics, Grandes Écoles, Elites, Higher education, Intergenerational Mobility
Stéphane Benveniste, Renaud Coulomb, Marc Sangnier
Abstract
State awards to civilians are a widespread social phenomenon across space and time. This paper quantifies the impact of State awards given to Directors on the stock value of their firms. We link a comprehensive dataset of recipients of the Légion d'honneurthe most prestigious official award in France-over the 1995-2019 period to Board positions in French listed firms. We document large abnormal returns in the stocks of recipients' firms at the date of the award, suggesting that awards signal valuable access to policy-makers. This interpretation is corroborated by the absence of any market reaction for recipients who were already identified before award receipt as being close to the Government.
Keywords
Political connections, Symbolic Capital, State Honors, Awards
