PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL ELITE NETWORKS: A REPLICATION AND EXTENSION

BONNIE LOUISE LEWIS, Purdue University

Abstract

Although community power has been studied for many years and from many perspectives, little has been done to examine the persistence of community leadership structures. In this dissertation a replication was performed of a study conducted twelve years ago of a small midwestern community. Further study was made to attempt to understand the basis for positions of leadership in resource possession. It was found that although the pool of community organizations and leaders more than doubled since the first study, a small group of interorganizational leaders was still found. They represented organizations from the private economic sector much more than earlier. Further, a smaller group of the interorganizational leaders was again found to be extremely close not only through business connections but also socially and through value homophyly. These were, however, different individuals than those leaders delineated in the first study. The organizations represented by the leaders also changed somewhat. In summary, however, although the actual leader and organizational composition did change, the overall structure persisted. Regionalization and external corporate influence was found to have less local influence than other studies had suggested, although there were signs--in leaders gaining influence--that ten years from now external control might be more predominant. Both positional and personal resources were found to be important in possessing leadership positions in the community. Economic resources were important for possessing general influence but were not important for moving to higher levels of leadership. It was further found that resources could be differentiated by their influence in either general community influence or issue specific influence.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Social structure

COinS