Class Reproduction Among Men and Women in France: Reproduction Theory on Its Home Ground

Through an analysis of a large survey of employment men and women in France, this article shows that French reproduction theory has overstated the role of education in reproducing class advantage from generation to generation. Among men, reproduction of control over labor power (i.e., managerial/supervisory positions) is primarily direct instead of indirect through education. At the same time, education plays no role in reproducing ownership of businesses (i.e., capitalist and petty bourgeois positions), and there is little tendency for capitalist or petty bourgeois fathers to convert their economic capital into the educational capital for their sons so that the sons can secure managerial positions. Education serves less as a reproducer of class advantage than as a vehicle of mobility into managerial positions. Although reproduction theory has tended to ignore gender differences in class reproduction , these are found to be substantial. In the reproduction of ownership, women are less likely than men to inherit a business from their father. In the reproduction of control over labor power, the considerations that are important to men's chances of acquiring managerial/supervisory positions are generally much less important to women's chances. Thus reproduction strategis that are succesful in perpetuating class privilege for men do not work as well for women.