Relational Work by Elite Actors: Defining Authority Relationships as Institutional Maintenance

Abstract

We examine the rhetoric of US bank CEOs during the global financial crisis to investigate how elite actors define authority relationships with societal entities to ensure their own dominance, and thereby avert threats to existing institutional frameworks. We propose the general concept of “relational work” to describe such purposive efforts by actors to define relationships as a means of institutional maintenance or change. Our focus on relational work by elites initiates a potentially rich conversation between the focus on agency in institutional work and elite dominance in relational sociology. Our investigation also addresses recent calls for studies of elites in contemporary socio-economic systems.