Suchergebnisse

Das im vorliegenden Beitrag vorgestellte Forschungsprojekt knüpft an die Beobachtung an, dass das Ruhrgebiet seit den siebziger Jahren eine "elitenfreie Zone" darstellt, nachdem seit dem Nationalsozialismus eine soziale, kulturelle und semantische Zurückdrängung der traditionellen regionalen Wirtschaftselite eingesetzt hatte. Gegenstand des Forschungsprojekts ist die Struktur und Semantik der Wirtschaftselite des Ruhrgebiets zwischen 1930 und 1970, d.h. die Entwicklung einer regionalen Führungsgruppe zwischen der Weltwirtschaftskrise und dem Beginn der sozial-liberalen Ära der bundesdeutschen Politik. Gefragt wird insbesondere nach den mittelfristigen Änderungen der strukturellen Zusammensetzung dieser sozialen Gruppe sowie nach der Entwicklung von Formen und Mustern ihrer Selbstdarstellung in Werkszeitschriften ausgewählter Unternehmen. Die Bearbeitung dieser Dimensionen erfolgte im Rahmen einer Positionsanalyse, einer Sozialprofilanalyse und einer semantischen Analyse, um den Wandel der politischen Bedingungen, der sozialen Verhältnisse und der ökonomischen Strukturen zu verdeutlichen. (ICI2)

The article contributes to the discussions about global elites from a field-theoretical and empirical perspective. The examination of comparative biographical data on political and economic elites in two countries from the Global North (Germany and the US) and the Global South (Brazil and India) shows that elites in all four countries are globalizing. However, this process is strongly embedded in specific historic and socio-cultural structures of national fields of power. Emerging powers from the "Global South" seem to establish their own "schools of power" for the educational reproduction of their national elites. Therefore, speaking of a homogenous global elite is misleading and obscures the multiple conflicts between elite factions in national fields of power, as well as between national elites from different countries and world regions. Consequently, field-theoretical research on elites must be embedded in a comprehensive analysis of power, conflict, and class-relations on the national as well as on the global level of the capitalist world system.

The article contributes to the discussions about global elites from a field-theoretical and empirical perspective. The examination of comparative biographical data on political and economic elites in two countries from the Global North (Germany and the US) and the Global South (Brazil and India) shows that elites in all four countries are globalizing. However, this process is strongly embedded in specific historic and socio-cultural structures of national fields of power. Emerging powers from the "Global South" seem to establish their own "schools of power" for the educational reproduction of their national elites. Therefore, speaking of a homogenous global elite is misleading and obscures the multiple conflicts between elite factions in national fields of power, as well as between national elites from different countries and world regions. Consequently, field-theoretical research on elites must be embedded in a comprehensive analysis of power, conflict, and class-relations on the national as well as on the global level of the capitalist world system.