Central Bankers in the Contemporary Global Field of Power: A ‘Social Space’ Approach

Abstract

In the context of the financialization of the global economy, and the importance of financial elites (see Savage and Williams in this volume) the role of central banks has become particularly important. The financial crisis of August– September 2007, (the ‘sub-prime mortgage crisis’) has given a new illustration of the growing functional importance of these central banks, which are in charge of monetary and financial stability through their particular daily interventions on the markets. As ‘lenders of last resort’ in case of declining confidence between banks or financial actors and, more generally, ‘custodians of monetary stability’ as they are often described, central bankers determine the general level of confidence in the set of monetary and financial instruments which have developed in recent years, and contribute highly to the production of macroeconomic decisions, and financial dynamics. Behind the opaque walls of central banks, well known to be very secretive institutions, particular social agents appear to be a new economic and political elite. Their role, action and beliefs have become determinant for the reproduction of the economic and social order as a whole. This specific ‘financial’ elite is related to the state bureaucracy (from which it frequently emanates), to the political field and to the dominant actors of the financial markets. In Europe, the creation of the European Central Bank (ECB) has objectified this process by putting the so-called ‘independent’ governing council of the ECB at the centre of monetary policy but also of macroeconomic policy in general. In the very recent period, European central bankers have been put under political pressure by French politicians, condemning the high level of interest rates and above all the over-evaluation of the Euro, resulting from the specific actions of the ECB. In this situation, knowledge of the social trajectories which lead to the position of central banker in different parts of the world is a first step to understanding the social reality behind the emergence of these new global elites. It will help for example to determine the degree of homogeneity of this group and its internal structures; this knowledge will also give an understanding of the social ‘embeddedness’ of monetary and macroeconomic decisions, otherwise seen as structural macro-conditions without any social content. In this sense, the sociology of central bankers is a specific contribution to economic sociol-