Abstract
The Michelin spirit is an ideology that justifies the choice of capitalism underpinning the company culture, a strategic tool for subscribing to the corporate values. In this chapter, Corine Vedrine examines in more depth each element of that culture, illustrated by interviews realised with employees and inhabitants of Clermont-Ferrand. She shows that the Michelin spirit is first and foremost based on values drawn from a moral and religious context. It also hinges on standards relating to secrecy and asceticism, and governs the staff’s way of being and doing. The patriarchal model is also at the heart of the Michelin spirit, in line with Le Play’s philosophy. Its cornerstone is the figure of the exemplary father, embodied successively by Édouard and François Michelin, with his role of authority, protection and education.
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See Note 2 of the chapter 1.
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See Note 2 of the chapter 1.
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Regarding the moral upheld by the women of the popolino of Naples, see Pardo (1996): “In a number of cases the people themselves may well overemphasize the power of either sex in household and extra household relations, but observation suggests that the popolino family is certainly not a unitary group under male authority characterized by women’s indirect but strong influence” (1996, 44). As we will see in the next chapter, this is also the case with the spouses of the Bibs in respect of the transmission of the spirit to their children.
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Védrine, C. (2019). The Myth and Its Justifications with the Michelin Spirit: The Father, the Son and the Healthy Spirit. In: The Spirit of Capitalism According to the Michelin Company. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96610-6_5
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