Felix Bühlmann, Professeur de sociologie, présente les résultats des recherches sur les élites et leur influence sur les dynamiques d’inégalités sociales, les transformations politiques ou les rapports de pouvoir économique, lors de la cérémonie d'ouverture des cours 2024-2025.

Very looking forward to reading this! Congrats Anne-Sophie Delval and Karen Lillie!!!

Am so super excited to be co-organising this conference with Annette in Boston next March. Please submit an abstract if this appeals. LSE Inequalities LSE Sociology. Hope to see you there!

OBELIS is on retreat in the Swiss Alps! Two amazing days of scientific exchange and friendship in magnificent hotel surrounded by nature and cows ! 🇨🇭🏔️✍🏻

14 researchers in #elites #sociolgy #politicalscience #history thinking about the future of elite research in Switzerland and how we can make our working conditions more sustainable.

Thank you so much Anne-Sophie Delval for organising this retreat with the awesome colleagues working on elites from OBELIS in the mountains, very close to where I grew up as a child (in the video you can see the Swiss elite battle cows, or "queens" are we call them here)

Cities have long been hubs for elites, fostering social capital via formal (organisational) and informal (personal) networks. We examine how these resources shaped Swiss business elites (1890–2000) using MCA, SNA and GIS to reveal socio-spatial dynamics and elite evolution (2/9)

We apply Goffman’s front and back stage to analyse business elites. The front stage represents formal social capital through visible positions in organisations, while the back stage is built by living in exclusive elite enclaves, where informal networks shape power dynamics (3/9)

We identify business elites as those holding top roles in major companies across the 3 main Swiss cities. We collected residential data, biographical details, and contextualized their neighbourhoods using GIS and SNA to analyse formal and informal social capital. (4/9)

We use Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) with key indicators on formal and informal social capital. The MCA reveals two axes: the first axis corresponds to the volume of formal social capital and the second axis to the volume of informal social capital. (5/9)

Our clustering identified 4 profiles: 1) The Established elites have the highest volume of formal capital but do not live in top elite areas; 2) The Heirs “embody” power in historical exclusive neighbourhoods due to wealthy backgrounds. (6/9)

3) The Professionals have limited formal/informal networks & transnational background, while the Outsiders hold more modest board positions & live in areas with moderate economic status. (7/9)

The Swiss business elite has evolved from 1890 to 2000, with established elites rising and heirs dropping. Heirs now prefer affluent suburbs, while professionals are more transient. These shifts reveal changing dynamics in social capital and spatial organisation. (8/9)

Our study reveals that power is a matter of not only accumulation of formal relationships, but also of accumulation of informal social capital through the living experience in exclusive areas rich in symbolic resources. (9/9)

Interested to know how Bourdieu meets Goffman in elite studies? Look at our new paper w/ Pierre Benz Pedro Araujo Michael A. Strebel (@[email protected]) where we investigated the front and the back stage of elite power in the 3 main Swiss cities through MCA and other sophisticated methods

Swiss elites sociology at its best ⬇️⬇️⬇️

.coulmont racontait ici une des contributions un peu spéciales de Christin à la sociologie: on lui doit une des premières (la première?) tentative de visualisation du concept de champ coulmont.com/blog/2014/03/1…

We’re organising a PhD course on Multiple correspondence analysis in Oslo in January, 13-16. Taught by Johs. Hjellbrekke Maren Toft and yours truly. Will officially be announced in a month, but now you know. Spread the word and keep watching this space for more info!

Are you concerned by how wealth inequality close down democratic politics? Then come to this ⁦LSE Inequalities⁩ panel with ⁦Liam Byrne MP⁩ ⁦Faiza Shaheen⁩ ⁦Jonathan Hopkin⁩ that I am chairing on Nov 27th. It should be a great discussion. lse.ac.uk/International-…

L'appel à propositions du RT42 "Sociologie des élites" AfsElites de l'Association Française de Sociologie vient de sortir sur la thématique "Les élites et l'environnement"!! Avec tout le groupe du RT42 nous serions très heureux.ses de vous à Toulouse en 2025 #soctwitter #socioelites #afs2025