A Causal Modelling Approach to the Study of a Community Elite's Influence Structure

Abstract

A causal model of the influence system of local communities is proposed. Our major departure from previous research is the way we conceptualize the influence system and the other variables of the model. namely, as characteristics of the relationships of pairs of elite members. The influence system is operationalized by a smallest space analysis of the path distances among elite members, the original path distances being derived from a question asking with whom members discussed community politics. Business/professional relationships and common membership in a religious community, a political party or a governmental body are treated as exogenous variables, and value homophyly and informal social relationships as intervening variables. The model is tested with data from an elite study of Altneustadt, a small city in West Germany. The final, empirically derived model demonstrates that the informal social structure plays the principal role in channeling effects from exogenous variables to the community influence structure.