ABSTRACT

The typology and statutory diversity of municipal jobs reveal professional worlds that can be difficult to identify, and where outlines and definitions are uncertain, even porous. Conscious of the limits of their formal academic achievements, the secrtaires gnraux tended to identify themselves within the bureaucratic hierarchy as a lower elite, trained in the school of diplomacy'. This reflected the experience of the Paris region. The distinctiveness of the Paris region is evident from the size of its municipal workforce. Closely associated with the selection of candidates, secrtaires gnraux benefited from and reproduced these traditional modes of appointment. Although difficult to quantify, the politicization of municipal administration did not generally affect secrtaires gnraux until the 1970s. The history of the relationship between the professional association and trade unionism was more complex, inevitably marked by the tumultuous history of the French labour movement. The collective identity of secrtaires de mairie inevitably depended upon the relationships existing between elected representatives and their staff.