The aim of this paper is to explore how the restructuration of the Swiss banking field over the last four decades has affected the careers of Swiss banking elites. During this period the Swiss banking system has undergone a concentration process, has shifted its activities from retail to investment banking and has been thoroughly internationalized. Inspired by a bourdieusian framework, we examine the impact of these changes on top bankers careers. We conceptualize careers as dynamics of acquisition, accumulation and conversion of different types of capital and investigate different forms of internationality and mobility of top bankers. Using a database of 487 Executive and Non Executive Directors from 37 Swiss banks in 2010 we first perform a sequence analysis to understand different types of international and intersectoral careers. This is then completed by a multiple correspondence analysis which allows us to identify combinations of educational, social and cosmopolitan capital that lead to top positions in different areas of the Swiss banking field. Our findings show that a large part of Swiss bankers still pursue exclusively national careers and that truly international trajectories are limited to a small group of top bankers working in investment banking. These international careers in big banks, foreign banks and stock exchange banks are related to a large amount and particularly international type of educational capital, whereas careers of bank managers with no university education remain restricted to the national space. However, also managers of these regional and cantonal banks tend to imitate the internationality of big banker’s careers. They often spend a brief spell abroad at the beginning of their career or attend a short executive management program in order to give their career an international flavour.

Cette étude analyse l’évolution de la distribution des inégalités sociales suite à la démocratisation du système éducatif suisse au cours du XXe siècle. Nos analyses, menées à partir de données issues de 21 enquêtes réalisées entre 1972 et 2013, révèlent que, même si la démocratisation scolaire a généré une égalisation de l’accès à l’éducation post-obligatoire, de fortes inégalités sociales subsistent en Suisse. Nous concluons que le système éducatif suisse, caractérisé par de larges filières de formations professionnelles, joue un rôle important dans la persistance de ces inégalités.

The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) has become one of the most widely used questionnaires to assess career adaptability. To facilitate its integration into large surveys, in varied settings, the aim of this article was to develop a brief 12-item version, the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale–Short Form (CAAS-SF). A sample of 2,800 French- and German-speaking adults living in Switzerland completed the CAAS. On a first random subsample, a principal component analyses conducted on the CAAS-SF suggested a four-factor solution. A one-to-one association was found between these components and the subscales of the CAAS-SF. Confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on a second random subsample, confirmed the hierarchical factor structure of this short version. Based on Cheung and Rensvold’s criteria, the CAAS-SF reached measurement equivalence across linguistic and gender groups. Furthermore, the 12- and 24-item versions were strongly associated. The results supported the CAAS-SF as pertinent and economical alternative to the 24-item version.

Considering the importance of prospective memory for independence in old age recently, research has started to examine interventions to reduce prospective memory errors. Two general approaches can be proposed: (a) process training of executive control associated with prospective memory functioning, and/or (b) strategy training to reduce executive task demands. The present study was the first to combine and compare both training methods in a sample of 62 community-dwelling older adults (60–86 years) and to explore their effects on an ecologically valid everyday life prospective memory task (here: regular blood pressure monitoring). Even though the training of executive control was successful in enhancing the trained ability, clear transfer effects on prospective memory performance could only be found for the strategy training. However, participants with low executive abilities benefited particularly from the implementation intention strategy. Conceptually, this supports models suggesting interactions between task demands and individual differences in executive control in explaining individual differences in prospective memory performance.