Busyness school: The making of an elite in a greedy institution

In this communication, we will argue that today’s elite schools, and business schools in particular, are busyness schools, that promote permanent activity as a status symbol for elites and prepare their students to be executives and elites of the new capitalist system. We conducted a sociological investigation in and of a French elite higher education institution, the École Centrale, examining it as a greedy institution, demanding its students’ full investment of their time. We focus both on the students’ activity and the institutional processes creating activity. We highlight the institution’s absorbing nature, with students isolating themselves on its campus and devoting their time primarily to activities proposed by the institution, particularly the collective extra-curricular activities, which supports the creation of an esprit de corps. The students learn to cope with and navigate this dense time environment, full of solicitations linked to the institution, prioritising the internal collective activities, even organising and optimising their sleep in relation to the rest of their activities and in accordance with institutional injunctions. By doing so, they are socialized to busyness as it is valued today by economic elites.