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This article examines the principle of a social responsibility of the industrial class, as it was envisaged by Tocqueville and Le Play in the 19th century : both considered that the disappearance of the institutions of the Ancien Régime, as well as industrial growth resulted in a loss of traditional values and a rise of new ones, focused on the sole satisfaction of private material interests. To moralize this new society, they put forward the analysis of institutions that would modify the mores of the ruling class and then, by diffusion, those of the whole society : this is the aim of Tocqueville’s aristocratic association and Le Play’s “patronage.” Classification JEL : B19 ; B31 ; M14 ; Z13