FRIENDSHIP AMONG THE FRENCH FINANCIAL ELITE

This analysis offers a rare glimpse into the antecedents and correlates of friendship among the inner circle of the top financial elites in France during the last years of the Socialist government. Consistent with other studies of elites, social prestige and club membership determine membership in the inner circle. Reflecting French institutions, having worked in the Treasury is also important. Who is friends with whom depends on social prestige, political party membership, and residence, but most importantly on whether or not one graduated from the top French school for administration (ENA). The inner circle is sociometrically divided into moieties, or ''cliques,'' which are both cooperative and competitive. Moiety membership is determined by politics, ENA background, and prestige and is also correlated with common board membership. The concept of ''enforceable trust,'' a key factor in high finance, explains the importance of friendship in this elite. There are sufficient friendship ties between the moieties to suggest that, despite the privatization of financial institutions engendered by the new non-Socialist government, the basic character of French finance will remain the same.