While intersectionality is a concept rooted in progressive movements and linked to groups that face multiple oppressions, I propose to focus on the « intersectional performances » (Jaunait & Chauvin, 2012) of French upper class minorities that created various elite clubs in Paris since the mid 2000s. Drawing on an ethnographic fieldwork (71 interviews, participant observation, documents) conducted in three clubs, I will tackle two main questions. First, I will reflect upon the discourse of « diversity » (Bereni, 2009) promoted by employers’ organisations and right-wing politicians. As a managerial reformulation of anti-discrimination at the workplace, this discourse does not result in a debate concerning the inclusion of minorities in employers’ organisations or upper class clubs, nor does it transform the French ideology of « indifference to difference » (Escafré-Dublet & Simon, 2009) at a larger scale (as shown by the current controversies about the organisation of « nonmixt » -i.e. racialized only-workshops in French trade unions). However, I will show that this discourse created a targeted political opportunity for upper class minorities. No longer depending on the historical link between « immigrant » organisations and the left-wing, upper class minorities can try to use as a resource their positions as minority and upper class members. Second, drawing on a relational approach and the notion of « field » (Bourdieu, 1992), I will examine the identities and alliances that are displayed by the three clubs. I will show that upper class stratification and the connections that these clubs have (or not) with political and administrative spheres can account for their « identity strategies » - « celebration » or « suppression » of difference (Bernstein, 1997)- as well as for the publicisation or not of the links and alliances they have with immigrant associations.
