Local Elites in a Society in Transformation: The Case of Aix-en-Provence in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Aix-en-Provence is a town in Provence that had to face up to the situation of leaving the revolutionary period started in 1789 behind and it began the new XIXth century in circumstances which, on the face of it, could have been considered quite unfavorable for those holding onto their old, relative preponderance. We are interested in finding out how the local elite underwent and dealt with this process. The study, of a bibliographic nature, shows how a part of this sector participated in a strategy in order to redirect the functional specialisation of the town in the area of education as a way of dynamizing the town and offering it renewed importance.