The History of Socio-Economic Classifications in France Reconsidered

Resulting from a process that began in the nineteenth century, French socio-economic classifications (code des categories socio-professionnelles) were elaborated between 1951 and 1954 and have not been modified much since. Without a strong theoretical framework and conceived according to a realistic approach, it embodied the social classes as described by post-war society. During a period of 'reworking' (1978-1981), it became an exciting topic of sociological exploration, providing a representation of Pierre Bourdieu's two-dimensional social space and the subject of experimentation for Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot's pragmatic sociology. During a period of 'renovation' (1995-2001), administrative caution toward any changes contrasted with the evolution of labor-law categories and the goal of analytical purity backed by econometrics. The history of this classification provides an account of a statistical tool that was meant to remain unchanged when neither the institution ensuring its management, the ordinary or legal categories to which it refers, nor the sociological theories and practices themselves remain unchanged. Adapted from the source document.