THE LOGIC AND PRACTICE OF HOMOGAMY IN THE FAMILIES FROM THE BOTTIN-MONDAIN

This article discusses the way homogamy serves to maintain a certain c ohesion of the population characterized by a strong symbolical and soc ial capital and an attachment to family descendance - the families in the Bottin Mondain (a directory listing members of high society). In o rder to do so, the probability of a child of one of the families liste d in the Bottin Mondain marrying a member of another family, also list ed in the Bottin Mondain, was calculated using qualitative regression statistical methods. For the two periods under examination (1950-1969 and 1970-1987) an aristocratic origin is the main explanation for thes e ''high-society'' marriages. For the more recent period new factors o f high society favour these unions (special residences for the girls, prestigious circles and clubs for the boys). Thus it would appear that since the 1970s the attachment to high-society marriages is shared by traditional families of noble origin and by a fringe of the bourgeois ie now members of these prestigious clubs and circles, with a professi onal or leisure aspect or residing in the smart'' districts. This evol ution is revealing in identifying matrimonial behaviour between the no bility and the bourgeoisie listed in the Bottin Mondain.