Elites and society

• Teigen, Mari; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Karlsen, Rune (2022). Elites on Equality: Room for Gender Balance and Ethnic Diversity in Leadership Positions? Acta Sociologica. doi: 10.1177/00016993211070192. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Access to resources, wealth, and power positions varies systematically with membership in social categories. This article asks what role the elites themselves – as holders of power and regulators of access to influential positions – can play in maintaining, but also changing, the demographic composition of elites. Drawing on a unique survey among the entire Norwegian elite, we investigate what holders of elite positions believe are the main causes of gender imbalance and lack of ethnic diversity, and whether their beliefs influence their willingness to implement measures to promote gender equality and ethnic diversity. In line with expectations drawn from the literatures on policy representation and critical frame analysis, we find a strong, positive relationship between the belief in the importance of institutionalized causes of inequality and the willingness to introduce ameliorative measures to increase diversity. Conversely, we find a negative relationship between the belief in individualized explanations, such as the lack of qualifications, and the willingness to introduce measures. As elites are key holders of power, the findings imply that how elites view the causes of categorical inequality has strong bearings on the room for structural change.

• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2020). Business elite as elected representatives in voluntary organizations in Norway. Politics and Governance. 8(3), p. 130–141. doi: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2994. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Little is known about the links between the business sector and civil society in Norway. To address the lack of knowledge, this study focused on members of the business elite who are elected representatives in voluntary organizations. Information about these representatives was obtained from a national survey of Norwegian elites and used to examine to what extent voluntary organizations are integrated into the business community’s network of institutions and organizations outside the corporate world. The analyses demonstrate that voluntary organizations are well placed within this network. Moreover, business leaders who are elected representatives are well-connected. Several of them serve on state boards and have frequent contact with politicians and state administrators. Business leaders who have experienced pronounced social mobility seem to be more attracted to being involved in the governance of voluntary organizations than their colleagues with a more privileged background.

• Teigen, Mari & Karlsen, Rune (2019). Influencing Elite Opinion on Gender Equality through Framing: A Survey Experiment of Elite Support for Corporate Board Gender Quotas. Politics & Gender. p. 1–24. doi: 10.1017/S1743923X19000060. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article contributes to both the scholarly debates on the controversies over gender quotas and the body of knowledge on framing effects through an investigation of whether national elites, individuals in top positions across 10 sectors of Norwegian society, are susceptible to positive framing of corporate board gender quotas (CBQs). Elites are thought to be more resistant to framing, and their predispositions are found to be stronger and more consistent than those of the general public. However, few, if any, studies have empirically investigated framing effects on national elites. We report on an experiment embedded in a comprehensive survey of Norwegian national elites. The results clearly indicate that elites are susceptible to framing. When exposed to frames highlighting both male dominance among the business elite and the success of CBQs in achieving gender balance on corporate boards, elites were significantly more likely to support gender quotas. Framing effects were primarily found among men, not women, and contrary to expectation, effects were stronger among the business elite. Thus, we should direct our attention to how the framing of issues also influences key stakeholders, and policy makers should consider opposition to gender equality measures as something that has the propensity to change.

• Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Teigen, Mari (2019). Value polarization in a Norwegian context? Distance between the elite and the population in attitudes toward immigration and gender equality. Politica - Tidsskrift for politisk videnskab. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  To what extent do the Norwegian elite and the population at large differ in their views on immigration and gender equality? The article analyzes data from the Norwegian Leadership Survey 2015, conducted among the holders of top positions in ten sectors in Norwegian society, and compares elite attitudes to attitudes in the Norwegian population. We find a considerable distance between elite and population, but immigration is more polarizing than gender equality. The findings are discussed in light of recent comparative research on populism and the growing resistance to liberal and post-material values, as well as literature on gender equality as a “Nordic value”.

• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2018). En rask eller lang og kronglete vei til topps? Næringslivslederes karriereforløp. Søkelys på arbeidslivet. 35(1-2), p. 96–110. doi: 10.18261/issn.1505-7989-2018-01-02-06. Full text in Research Archive
• Engelstad, Fredrik (2018). Models of elite integration. In Best, Heinrich & Higley, John (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 439–457. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-51904-7_28. Show summary

  In this chapter, elites are associated with the possession of decisive political power that gives them disproportionate influence on political and social outcomes. Two opposing views of elite power in democracies are found in the literature. One is of a coalescent power structure or “power elite” and the other is of a pluralistic power structure consisting of elite groups located in diverse economic, governmental, military, media, scientific, and other sectors. The accuracy of these two conflicting views of elite power is treated as an empirical question and takes the pluralist view as the point of departure without, however, ruling out the coalescent view.

• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2018). Continued Elite Support for the Norwegian Version of the Nordic Model? Historical Social Research. 43(4), p. 113–140. doi: 10.12759/hsr.43.2018.4.113-140. Full text in Research Archive
• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2018). Business Elite Confidence in Political Institutions: The Case of Norway. In Engelstad, Fredrik; Holst, Cathrine & Aakvaag, Gunnar C. (Ed.), Democratic State and Democratic Society. De Gruyter Open. p. 343–362. doi: 10.1515/9783110634082-017.
• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2017). Rise and fall of elites: Professionals as movers? European Societies. 20(2), p. 159–182. doi: 10.1080/14616696.2017.1390144. Show summary

  A significant topic within elite research deserving more attention is the issue of the “rise and fall of elites”. This subject addresses changes in the composition of elites, the emergence of new elites and the decline of established ones, and covers questions like: In what ways do particular groups climb to elite power and status? What may explain the rise of new elite groups? In this paper, the focus is upon the role of professionals in the processes of elite ascent (and descent). Most holders of elite positions are professionals. This fact invites to draw on approaches within the professions literature to explain the rise of elites. This paper presents three empirical cases of elite ascent in Norway – the rise of economists, communication practitioners and public accountants. The three historical cases demonstrate that the professionals themselves actively sought to promote their expertise, and to expand their occupational territory. Nonetheless, the professionals’ own efforts to obtain collective advancement contributed to a lesser degree to their elite ascent than more fundamental economic and political changes in the Norwegian society.

• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2017). Elite ambiguity towards internationalization? The case of Norway. Corvinus journal of sociology and social policy. 8(3S), p. 39–54. doi: 10.14267/cjssp.2017.3S.03. Full text in Research Archive
• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2016). Elites and professions. Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya. 60(11), p. 71–83. doi: 10.20542/0131-2227-2016-60-11-71-83. Show summary

  Sociology of elites and sociology of professions are two different fields of sociology. Admittedly, there are overlapping research interests as in studies of “elite professions”, for instance lawyers or medical doctors, or similarly studies of “elite educations” within law and medicine. Nonetheless scholars within these two fields are primarily engaging themselves in different topics and research questions. In this article I argue that particularly elite research and elite theory can benefit from theories and empirical knowledge developed within the sociology (and history) of professions. The argument is worked out theoretically by presenting three main areas within elite sociology and identifying some significant issues within these areas. Then I discuss how the sociology of professions can help throw light on these issues, illustrated by empirical examples. The three areas within elite sociology that I focus upon are: (1) elite circulation, (2) elite integration or cohesion, (3) elites and legitimacy. Professions are collective actors which actively attempt to carve out occupational domains reserved for their members. At the same time professions frequently aim at obtaining a collective uplift of status. The collective endeavors of the professions may influence the elite structure of a particular society. They may establish new elite institutions and organizations, new elite positions and new routes to elite status. In other words, professions may be significant drivers in the elite circulation in a society. Secondly, professions develop basic mentalities, ideas and values which impinge upon the institutions and organizations in which they are dominating. As a result elites become representatives of their institutions and their basic mentalities and values rather than members of a closed power elite on the top of society. In such an elite structure elite integration is more about accommodation and compromise between the various institutional representatives than common interests due to same class background. Moreover, professional standards, values and contributions to a large extent have become the underpinnings of elite legitimacy.

• Storvik, Aagoth Elise Lossius & Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2016). Included, but still not equal? Gender segregation at quota regulated boards. Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition. 12(2), p. 35–45. doi: 10.22495/cbv12i2art5. Show summary

  In 2003 Norway introduced a new regulation that required at least 40 percent of each gender on company boards. Norway was the first country in the world to introduce such a law, but several countries have since proposed similar arrangements. Before the reform, opponents of the law in Norway claimed that the new women directors would not be allowed to participate fully in board decision-making. Instead, their role would only be window dressing. Based on a questionnaire sent to all directors in public limited companies in 2009, the article studies this allegation. Results show that women directors report less ability to influence board decision making than men directors. Moreover, women to a lesser extent feel they are part of the inner circle on boards where such phenomena is perceived to exist. These tendencies also hold when we control for many other independent variables such as board role, ownership interest, number of directorships, and occupation, among others. Hence, the quota regulated boards might show tendencies of gender hierarchies and resegregation.

• Storvik, Aagoth Elise Lossius & Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2015). Selskapsdamer og selskapsløver. Kjønnssegregering i allmennaksjeselskapenes styrer? In Alsos, Gry Agnete; Bjørkhaug, Hilde; Bolsø, Agnes & Ljunggren, Elisabet (Ed.), Kjønn og næringsliv i Norge. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 109–131.

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• Engelstad, Fredrik; Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Teigen, Mari (2022). Eliter i endring : Makt, demokrati, representasjon. Universitetsforlaget. 360 p.

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• Engelstad, Fredrik (2018). Bokessay om: Olav Korsnes, Johan Heilbron, Johs. Hjellbrekke, Felix Bühlmann, Mike Savage (red.): New Directions in Elite Studies. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift. 2(5), p. 429–433. doi: 10.18261/issn.2535-2512.
• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2017). Fortsatt elite-støtte til den norske modellen? Stat og styring. 27(4), p. 38–41. Full text in Research Archive
• Gulbrandsen, Trygve Jens (2015). Elites and professions.

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