ABSTRACT
We here present some of the distinctions among several European countries.7
In France the notion of ‘cadre’ corresponds in the first instance to an institutionalized category. ‘Cadres’ are agents with technical, administrative, legal, commercial or financial training to whom the employer has delegated significant authority over co-workers of every type: blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, technicians, foremen and forewomen, administrative or commercial workers. They are supposed to have a relatively high degree of responsibility. In France, ‘cadres’ are often educated in the university system or in the system of the prestigious grandes écoles, which allows graduates to be directly recruited as ‘cadres’ in companies. There is a clear-cut distinction between the status of ‘Cadre’ (specific retirement systems, higher social status) and that of the other workers, even those having some kind of managerial responsibility (for example, supervisors).
