Rallye mondain (France)

Rallye mondain 🇫🇷
Location: France
Definition: Gathering of young aristocrats for cultural and networking events
Keywords: France – European Union – Aristocracy – Community – Contacts – Facilitation – Influence – Network – Personal connections
Clusters: Conformity – Community Lock-in
Author: Alexandre Lieure
Affiliation: Alumnus, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK

By Alexandre Lieure, Alumnus, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK

In France, les rallyes mondains (sing. un rallye mondain) are informal groups, which gather young aristocrats for cultural and networking events, on a regular basis and over several years. Rallyes start when children are around 11 years old and finish as they become young adults around 19. In the first years of a rallye, children participate in cultural activities such as historical visits and dancing lessons, meant to prepare them for their future life as fully-fledged members of the aristocracy. Finally, during the final years of a rallye, cultural activities turn into fancy dancing balls –les soirées dansantes– during which teenagers are expected to put into practice the rules of good conduct taught in the previous stage, while hopefully making lasting connections. According to French sociologists Michel Pinçon and Monique Pinçon-Charlot (PPM hereafter), the rallyes mondains are a key element in the overall structure of French aristocracy (PPM 2007; 2009). They enable young aristocrats to recognise their peers and develop a sense of community, which reinforces the closure of the network (Ibid. 2007: 41).

The research suggests that the rallye mondain as it is known today finds its roots in 1950s France. During the after-war period, aristocratic families were progressively made unable to arrange marriages for their children. Rallyes seem to have emerged from this increasing need to prevent misalliances and preserve the social homogeneity of the group. The organisation of fancy receptions and dancing balls where young aristocrats could meet one another was not a novel practice as such. L’art de recevoir –the art of hospitality– is a well-documented practice among the French high society of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nevertheless, it is only through the rallye that it became institutionalised.

The initial function of the rallyes as matrimonial enterprises is reflected in their structure. Female participants host the soirées dansantes in order to show their mastery of the different social skills expected from them as future wives, i.e. hosting sumptuous receptions, building and maintaining useful and durable relations. Girls usually team up in order to reduce costs. Furthermore, rallyes are organised and supervised by a few mothers from renowned aristocratic families. As PPM note, women have always played a crucial role in the management of social capital among the aristocratic circles (PPM 2009: 28). Male participants, on the other hand, are only invited to the rallye and can therefore participate in several ones. They are usually 1 or 2 years older than girls. In addition, their mothers are expected to organise cultural activities in the initial stage of a rallye.

Each individual rallye gathers around 200 individuals. The selection of participants is operated through a system of informal cooptation, which ensures the social and religious homogeneity of the group. Indeed, a rallye tends to gather children from the same religious confession –the rallye mondain is a practice found mainly in Catholic circles but also Protestant and Jewish communities (PPM 2009: 17-24). Belonging to the same families, same schools and neighbourhoods, as well as being of similar age are the main criteria for joining the same rallye. For their soirée dansante, however, hostesses are allowed to invite each about 50 extra persons external to the rallye. This practice enables to connect different communities within the aristocracy, creating a very closed and well-connected microcosm. For instance, teenagers attending Paris’ most prestigious schools tend to all know one another on a level that goes beyond that of mere acquaintance, having a good knowledge of familial ties and social status of everyone.

There are several active rallyes running at the same time, and new rallyes are being created as a new generation of children becomes of age. Although it is hard to quantify precisely, there are probably around 20 rallyes running simultaneously for each generation in Paris. While Parisian rallyes are the most prestigious ones – often attracting people from French provinces and expats from neighbouring countries – they can also be found in other French cities.

Interpreting the rallye simply as a disguised matrimonial agency for young bourgeois or aristocratic families taking control of their children’s sociability would, however, be misleading. As several testimonies reveal, the rallyes take place at a too young age for participants to find their future spouse or make useful lasting relations (Gallien 2005: part 2, 13-15min). The crucial period occurs later, in grandes écoles, at prestigious universities, where young aristocrats will form a strong professional network and find a respectable spouse. The real value added of rallyes lies therefore elsewhere. They constitute a complementary level of education to the ones provided by families and private schools – the rallye experience perfects an already perfect education (PPM 2007: 41). This view is actually shared by participants themselves, parents and children alike (Gallien 2005: part 1, 11min).

The type of learnings dispensed within those informal groups are several. First, during the initial stage of the rallye, which consists of cultural activities, teenagers experience their cultural heritage as members of the aristocracy. This cultural capital is, and always will be, an integral part of their life, whether personal or social (PPM 2009: 17-24). Culture is what defines them as individuals and as a group, therefore serving as a basis for social relations. In the participants’ view, culture is what makes someone respectable and becomes a pretext to build ties within the rallye. The second type of learning follows from the first and relates to who/what a young aristocrat ought to be. Indeed, a very recurrent theme raised by rallye participants is the importance of respecting the rules of good conduct, that is learning the practice of how to behave in society (Gallien 2005: part 1, 7-11min). They are aristocrats and therefore should behave accordingly.

Having internalised who they are and who they ought to be, young aristocrats learn to recognise one another. This group awareness enables young aristocrats to identify with ease which connections should be pursued and which should not, thus enhancing inward dynamics and undermining those outside the group. This is quite evident with female participants when asked about future husband expectations (Gallien 2005: part 1, 13-15min). They systematically assign higher moral values to male participants as opposed to other males outside the rallye networks, often portrayed as having bad looks, being foolish, unstable and doing drugs (Ibid.). Thus, the boundaries of the social group are effectively reaffirmed, which in turn contributes to the further enforcement of norms, sanctions and trust within it.

In more general terms, the rallyes act as what Bourdieu denotes as a rite of institution (1982). Indeed, not only do they prepare participants to become a new generation of the aristocracy, but they also serve to differentiate the aristocracy from lower classes further. The ritual assigns specific social properties – such as behaviours and codes specific to the aristocracy – to those who undergo it (Ibid.). Aristocrats recognise non-aristocrats and vice versa. Thus, together with education, family name, wealth and other rites of institution, the rallye further shapes the external perception of the group as naturally and legitimately superior.

Finally, the rallye can also be understood in terms of competence and disposition towards social capital. Indeed, as Bourdieu states, social capital “is not profitable or even conceivable unless one invests in it a specific competence (knowledge of genealogical relationships and of real connections and skill at using them, etc.) and an acquired disposition to acquire and maintain this competence” (Bourdieu 1986: 252-3). From the youngest age, rallye participants are made aware of the invaluable importance of social capital for their future life. They learn how to transform contingent, ordinary, social relations into usable and durable obligations, how to navigate through social networks and identify their key features and nodes. Therefore, the social competencies and dispositions acquired during the rallye mondain prevent social capital from ever becoming a public good, ensuring the overall cohesion of the aristocracy and the reproduction of power structures.

References

Bourdieu Pierre. 1982. "Les rites comme actes d'institution". In: Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. Vol. 43 (1)” 58-63, juin. Rites et fétiches

Bourdieu, P. 1986. "The Forms of Capital," in J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood: 241-258

Gallien, Antoine. 2005. Baisemains et mocassins. Arte documentary, Part 1 available at: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xblugg_baisemains-et-mocassins-montage-1_school Part 2 available at: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xblupy_baisemains-et-mocassins-montage-2_school

Pinçon, Michel and Monique Pinçon-Charlot. 2009. Sociologie de la bourgeoisie (3e éd.). Paris: La Découverte

Pinçon, Michel and Monique Pinçon-Charlot. 2007. Les Ghettos du Gotta: Comment la bourgeoisie defend ses espaces. Paris: Editions du Seuil