Do villages have « mentalities » ? A comparative approach in wine-growing Hautes-CorbièresConsidering wide social groups, Geoffrey Lloyd’s contestation of the notion of mentality ended up in a methodological development which must be challenged on a small scale by comparative sociology. Here, the attempt is outlined through the exploration of “village mentalities” deeply felt thirty five years ago in three Hautes-Corbières municipalities of the Aude area. The purpose is not to approach a theoretical definition of the mentality but to search for conditions in which its use would not enable all sorts of confusions, and thus become manageable from different scientific perspectives, since giving up this use often leaves behind some significant research topics.