Summary - This essay analyses a number of studies in French local anthropology. Research in France on forms of local power has been widespread. Forms of power at the local level have indeed been studied by political scientists, by classic sociologists from Gremion to Bordieu, and above all by ethno-anthropologists, in particular Georges Ravis-Giordani, Gerard Lenclud, Claude Karnoouh and Marc Abélès. Special attention is given in this essay to the work of Marc Abélès, whose interpretative outlook seems to be particularly innovative.