Text
French
ID: <
hdl:/2441/7o52iohb7k6srk09na4b1454i>
Abstract
Power and democracy in a female religious congregation. Guy Michelat, Julien Potel. In a female religious congregation where the principle of authority-obedience is fundamental, what is the share of ‘democracy’? Elections to the Chapter, a collegiate assembly representing all the sisters of the Province, take place in three stages: appointment, acceptance of candidacy, election itself. At each of these stages the importance of the same factors is noted: social background, level of qualifications, responsibilities exercised. The result is that the more in the hierarchy, the more the social composition tends to deviate from that of the base. Although the Church’s traditional system of authority continues despite major changes after the Vatican II concilius, the involvement of sisters in the life of the Congregation is real, but, as in other organisations or in society as a whole, the process of social selection of elites, based on the competence that others (and themselves) attribute to social origins and school capital, is gradually being strengthened within the Congregation itself.