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Positional power and political influence in the Federal Republic of Germany
Author(s) -
HOFFMANNLANGE URSULA
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1989.tb00181.x
Subject(s) - elite , german , politics , position (finance) , power (physics) , political science , civil servants , sociology , economics , law , geography , physics , archaeology , finance , quantum mechanics
. Methods of elite identification measure different aspects of power in societies. The relationship between the positional and the decisional methods was studied empirically, using data from a 1981 West German elite survey. In this survey, respondents determined through the positional method were asked to name their interaction partners for (political) issues in which they were actively involved. The results show that incumbency of an elite position is a crucial precondition for becoming politically influential. Only a small number of legislators, journalists, and academics who did not hold an elite position were mentioned as key influentials. The same data were also used to determine the denser part of the West German elite network which was made up of 559 core decision‐makers. The sector composition of this elite circle underlines the intermediating role of political leaders and senior civil servants.