Senior Executives and High-Level Professionals: A Statistical Definition of the “Socio-Professional Elite”
Keywords:
Elite, Social stratification, Occupational categories, Upper classes, Inequalities, Social mobilityAbstract
This article introduces the theoretical framework, construction method, and initial analyses of a new category within the official French socioeconomic classification (Professions et catégories socioprofessionnelles; PCS 2020), named “top-level executives and professionals.” This category aims to identify the highest-ranking occupations in French society. Among managers, professionals, and higher-level intellectual occupations, this category pinpoints the upper echelon of positions (whether salaried or otherwise) that entail significant responsibilities within work organizations and/or recognized high-level expertise. These positions, identified based on their titles and occupational characteristics, constitute an “occupational elite” (comprising 3% of the working population) that bridges the sociology of stratification and the sociology of elites. Incorporating this category into public statistical surveys offers a fresh perspective for analyzing socioeconomic inequalities, complementing those approaches based on educational level or income. As an initial demonstration of its empirical utility, this article presents evidence of pronounced intergenerational reproduction at the pinnacle of the social hierarchy.
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