On nous a toujours dit que en faisant une prépa, nous formerions l'élite de la France de demain. Ce concept d'écoles préparationnaires -si cher à notre pays car il le distingue des autres nations- n'existant pas aux US, n' existe-t-il pas sous une autre forme cachée aux US ? Etre élève du MIT ou de Harvard pour ne citer que celles-la ne fait-il pas de vous l'élite future de la nation américaine ?

Hi, there : ). I feel that what we call 'college' (usually the first four years of one's education in a university) is equivalent to the French 'ecoles preparationnaires.' In college, a student does not only take subjects in his/her area of interest (architecture, for me) but actually has to study other science/humanities subjects. This should constitute a student's 'well-rounded' education before she/he goes on to a professional school (such as architecture school, med school or law school to mention just a few).
Studying the responses of the French students to their associations with the word 'elite' I discovered that a few of them mentioned 'soldat' and 'contingent.' Now, I am wondering how is being in the army/navy considered elitarian? Does one have to be of a high rank there to be considered an elite, or does an ordinary 'soldat' count as elite, too?

We get the same treatment, in different subtle ways and at different times. Actually, I was told these things more in high school than in college. Back then, it was intended to be a source of inspiration and focus; a motivation to perform at full potential so as to prepare for the responsibilities of becoming an adult member of society. Now in postsecondary education, it is more implied than stated outright, though I might expect to hear such words in a commencement speech, or in any address, given by any leader, to any body of students. The purpose of the idea at this level is to remind us that we should use our minds and education for the betterment of society and nation.

I noticed that on both the French and American sides, there were some mentions of a different kind of elite, the wealthy, as opposed to the intellectual elite. At one time France had a pretty rigid social class system. Does this still exist to any extent? The US has its wealthy class also, but the self-made millionaire has long been a cultural icon here. Does inherited wealth determine the upper class in France?

I agree with Tazeen in that it seems like 'elite' is a negative term because it usually implies inherited wealth. Americans think of 'the elite' as 'rich' and 'snobby/exclusive'. It seems to me that the French think of 'elite' in more of a political way (because of the mention of 'pouvoir', 'domination', and 'politique') and a positive way. Is this true?

Somehow, I always thought that the word "elite" refers to intellectual people who are the "provosts" of cultural life. Judging from the responses of sides, the word has connatations with "power" "money" "success", so would you say that "elite" is simply successful people who are well-off?

Elite me fait aussi penser à la fameuse agence de mannequins ...(et notamment à la pub pour la Clio, avec 5 mannequins munies d'armes, cachées dans leur dos .. Connaissez-vous cette pub outre-Atlantique ? J'imagine que non, vu que cela concerne une voiture sûrement peu vendue chez vous ; je tacherai de mettre à disposition la pub ...). Bye.

c'est parfaitement exact. D'ailleur quand le Front National cherche à critiquer le pouvoir il utilise souvent le mot élite pour parler des dirigeants politiques adverses, car il a une connotation négative sur le public français. Il voit l'elite comme une portion très réduite de la population , qui détient le pouvoir et ne désire pas le partager. Les membres de l'elite auraient aussi une attitude hautaine envers le reste de la population.

L'elite n'est pas bien considerée en France, mais elle est censée tirer le pays vers le haut. En aucun cas, l'élite est basée sur l'heritage. On ne distingue que deux elites, politique et intellectuelle. La premiere est fondée sur le pouvoir. Son role est de prendre des decisions pour le pays -elle a été formée pour ca (ENA)- de manière plus responsable que si chacun avait voté. C'est pour cette raison que l'élite est tres controversée. L'élite intellectuelle est relativement bien vue, si on ne se vante pas d'y appartenir. Dans ce cas, les français sont fiers de son succès. Il est vrai que dans les deux cas, l'élite est assez fortunée, grâce à son succès pour l'élite intellectuelle, ou à cause de sa position, pour l'élite politique. Dans les deux cas, cette élite n'est pas forcement 'snob', terme qui est plutot associé aux nouveaux riches.

Réponse à Tazeen
Je pense qu'en effet le seul moyen de devenir riche en France est d'hériter (ou de gagner à la lotterie ;o) ) En effet, la liberté d'entreprendre est très largement bridée, ce qui bloque totalement l'ascension sociale

Ludovic, I don't know Clio's pub that you are talking about, but your view is interesting nonethelss. I have a question based on Laurent's discussion: do you have a lot of nouveaux riches? And if what Benjamin says is true and it is very hard to become rich, then is it possible to be a "self-made man" in France? What kind of attitude do French people have towards those who obtained their wealth not by hard work but by some lucky occurance? So, it looks like French regard "nouveaux riches" without much respect, I agree that those people would not usually be called elite, but here we would not call them "snobs" either. America encourages entrepreneurship and many people here are self-made, people here rarely look at heritage simply because many don't know their heritage for more than two generations. How important is heritage in modern France?