This paper analyses social capital structures in the field of power, based on data from the Norwegian Power and Democracy Survey on elites. Separating between objectified, institutionalised, embodied, and inherited social capital, and inspired by Bourdieu's approach, we analyse the relations between social capital and the other forms of capital by way of specific multiple correspondence analysis and ascending hierarchical cluster analysis. First, we find that the level of institutionalised social capital varies from one fraction of the Norwegian elite to another. Secondly, the range of networks established through previous work experiences is related to field seniority. Thirdly, the positions of highest endogamy are situated in the religious field, and to a lesser extent, in the scientific field, and in the juridical field. Finally, the 'core of the core' is defined by actors who are strongly interconnected inside what is called 'the tripartite system', with a high level of multipositionality and intersectorial connections.Certain reliable indications exist that the science of political class is divided into three camps, corresponding to the three sectors that compose it: the first is the sense of energetic volition, the second is economic and the third is intellectual /. . . /. These three groups together constitute the political class, and their interdependence and interaction are such as to obscure often the criteria that distinguish them from one another. They form circles which, though far from coinciding with one another, have points of intersection. To fix the relations of these circles is the most important and most arduous task before us. (Michels (1949). First Lectures in Political Sociology: 106-7)Although the notion of social capital has been an increasingly popular concept since the mid-1990s, and although most analyses focus on network relations and resources, there is no agreed definition of social capital or consensus on how it should be measured. Nor are there many studies that link social capital to social class and elite positions in a comprehensive and systematic way. The purpose of this article is to forge that link, by way of an analysis of the distribution of social capital in the Norwegian field of power.The concept 'field The Sociological Review, 59:1 (2011)
Résumé Cet article se propose d’étudier la structure du champ du pouvoir français contemporain et d’y situer ce qu’à la suite de Charles Wright Mills, on peut appeler « l’élite au pouvoir ». En s’appuyant sur une base de données biographiques constituée à l’aide du Who’s Who in France , il montre d’abord que les élites sont affectées par des transformations qui touchent la société dans son ensemble depuis les quarante dernières années : les femmes sont moins mal représentées ; le célibat ou du concubinage deviennent courants ; le niveau de diplôme s’accroît. Les secteurs d’activités pouvant prétendre faire partie des élites se sont, en outre, modifiés. Tandis que l’industrie ou le secteur public déclinent, le commerce et la finance se révèlent centraux. Le champ du pouvoir contemporain peut être décrit à partir de quatre critères principaux : l’intégration à l’ordre économique, l’ancienneté de l’appartenance à la bourgeoisie, la proximité à l’État et la visibilité publique. Au sein de cet espace, une élite peut également être circonscrite. Sa composition détonne d’avec les deux sources de légitimité que la démocratie libérale met en avant : le mérite individuel et le mandat électif. La France est ainsi marquée par la prédominance d’une oligarchie patronale issue de familles bourgeoises, passée par les écoles du pouvoir et dont les affaires demeurent, malgré tout, des affaires d’État.
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