Quantifying the Field of Power in Norway

Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and de Saint-Martin (1978), the purpose of this chapter is to objectivate elite structures of power and figurations through an analysis of the dominant capital structures and oppositions in “the Norwegian field of power.” By way of specific multiple correspondence analysis, we seek to uncover the dimensionality of a structured space of relations, where the figurations of elite positions and the relations between them can be objectivated in terms of a field of power. Data originate from the Leadership survey 2000—2001, conducted by the Power and Democracy Project, and consists of 1,710 persons holding formal, leading positions in ten central sectors in Norway. The sample includes the top generals, bishops, leading university officials, higher civil servants, top politicians, supreme court judges, leaders of NGO's and the CEO's, NCEO's and chairmen of the largest private and public companies, including the cooperatives. Our analysis of the Norwegian field of power indicate that not only is Bourdieu's work valid outside French society, but also that “quantifying Bourdieu” may produce new insights about processes of societal change in other societies than the French one.