Aineiston nimi

Power Structures of Finnish Society 2011

Aineistonumero

FSD3204

Pysyvät tunnisteet

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3204
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3204

Aineiston laatu

Kvantitatiivinen aineisto

Tekijät

• Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (University of Tampere. Faculty of Management)

Sisällön kuvaus

In this power structure survey, the Finnish power elite is under observation. The respondents represented the following sectors of society: politics, administration, business life, organisations, mass media, science and culture. The study focused on institutional leadership positions and roles in the various sectors, not on the persons as such. There were approximately 1,400 elite positions in Finland in 2011. The themes of the survey included, among others, career, internationalisation, interaction, power and influence, and childhood home.

In view of the respondents' careers, they were queried the field of their main occupation as well as possible posts or offices in other fields. The study also charted the respondents' positions of trust in e.g. the Parliament, the State's committees, boards of corporations, and different types of organisations. The respondents were asked to choose the most important factors that had had a positive impact on their career development (e.g. work experience, diligence, suitable political views and party preference, education, family relations, public presentation skills) as well as to evaluate what sort of effect their childhood home had had on their career choice and whether gender had affected their career development.

Interaction was examined by presenting the respondents with a list of possible contact partners and asking them about the frequency and nature of the contacts. The listed contact partners included e.g. the President, the Prime Minister's office, political parties, ministries, courts and the police, universities, the Church, municipalities, and the Defence Forces. The respondents were also asked to estimate how often they appeared in a variety of mass media outlets and to what extent they kept in touch with old acquaintances they had met, for instance, during studies or their military service. Next, the respondents were asked whether they had common interests with decision-makers from a variety of fields. Internationalisation was charted by enquiring whether the respondents had studied or worked abroad and whether they had personal contacts with different types of foreign actors.

With regard to power and influence, the modes of contact that the respondents deemed the most important for their organisation were charted (e.g. unofficial personal meetings, telephone calls, personal letters, e-mails, organisations' official letters, mass media). Next, the respondents were asked to assess the influence and power of various bodies (e.g. the Parliament, representatives of cultural life, the media, labour market organisations, the EU). The study also surveyed their opinions on the importance of a variety of principles in decision-making regarding their own field (e.g. preparation of decisions is public, the social impact of decisions is taken into consideration, representatives of enterprises participate in decision-making, citizens can influence decisions). In addition, the respondents' views on the intensity of antagonism between various groups in Finland were examined (e.g. the wealthy/the impoverished, politicians/citizens, employers/employees). The respondents were also presented with a set of statements regarding social issues such as the functionality of democracy in Finland, immigration, income disparity, privatisation of public services, and NATO membership. Finally, the respondents' family backgrounds were charted with regard to language spoken in childhood home as well as parents' educational background, their economic activity and occupational status, their possible positions of trust in different organs and institutions, and the respondents' assessment of their parents' political party preference in the respondents' youth.

Background variables included e.g. gender, year of birth (categorised), province of residence, education, self-perceived social class, gross income, and the political party the respondent would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at the time of the survey.

Asiasanat

achievement; career development; decision making; elected officials; elite; mass media; organizations; parents; political power; social conflict; social networks; social origin; social success

Tieteenala/Aihealue

• Social sciences (OKM:n tieteenalaluokitus)
• Elites and leadership (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)

Sarja

Power Structures Surveys

Jakelija

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Käyttöoikeudet

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Kerääjät

• Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (University of Tampere. Faculty of Management)

Tuottajat

• Academy of Finland

Ajallinen kattavuus

2011

Aineistonkeruun ajankohta

2011-09 – 2011-10

Maa

Finland

Kohdealue

Finland

Havaintoyksikkötyyppi

Individual

Perusjoukko/otos

Persons in influential positions in different fields of Finnish society.

Tutkimuksen aikaulottuvuus

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Otantamenetelmä

Non-probability: Purposive

The survey was sent by mail to the purposively selected individuals who constitute the selected sections of the Finnish power elite.

Keruumenetelmä

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Keruuväline tai –ohje

Structured questionnaire

Datatiedostojen kieli

Aineistopaketti voi sisältää samoja tiedostoja eri kielisinä.

Aineisto sisältää datatiedostoja seuraavilla kielillä: suomi.

Tietoarkisto kääntää kvantitatiivisia datatiedostoja englanniksi. Lisätietoja käännöspyynnön jättämisestä.

Datan versio

1.0

Aineiston käytössä huomioitavaa

The following anonymisation measures were conducted during archiving to prevent identification of respondents: 'Birth year' (k2_lk) was categorised and extreme values were top- and bottom-coded. Variables regarding marital status (k3), hobbies (k12, k13) and parents' positions of trust in the Parliament (k40_i2, k40_a2) were removed (the distribution of parents' positions of trust in the Parliament was as follows: father N=7, mother N=2). In variables k5_1 ('Positions of trust: Member of the Parliament') and k5_2 ('Positions of trust: Member of the Government'), values 1 'Currently holding this position' and 2 'Do not currently hold this position but have held before' were categorised into a single category. In variable k14_t1 ('Frequency of contacting the President of the Republic'), categories 1 'At least once or twice a month' and 2 'A few times per year' were categorised into a single category. Province of residence (pre-1997 classification) was categorised into seven categories: 1 'Province of Uusimaa', 2 'Province of Turku and Pori', 3 'Provinces of Häme and Central Finland', 4 'Province of Vaasa', 5 'Provinces of Oulu and Lapland', 6 'Provinces of Kymi, Mikkeli, North Karelia and Kuopio and former Viipuri Province', 7 'Other' (k28, k29). Values in the 'income' variable (k35_lk) were categorised and top- and bottom-coded. Open-ended questions were removed from the data.

Painokertoimet

There are no weight variables in the data.

Viittausvaatimus

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Malliviittaus

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (University of Tampere): Power Structures of Finnish Society 2011 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2018-08-28). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3204

Julkaisusta tiedottaminen

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Varaumat

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Julkaisut aineistosta

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2013). Eliitti ja kansa. Kaksi eri maailmaa? Päättäjien ja kansalaisten asenne-erot vuosina 1991-2011. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 78(3), 245-258. URN:NBN:fi-fe201306144023

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2014). Suomen poliittinen järjestelmä. Valtasuhteiden muutokset 1990-luvun alun jälkeen. Teoksessa Forsberg, Tuomas & Raunio, Tapio (toim.), Politiikan muutos. Tampere: Vastapaino 2014, 77-122.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2014). Eduskunnan valta ja asema eliittien ja kansalaisten silmin. Teoksessa Raunio, Tapio & Wiberg, Matti (toim.), Eduskunta. Kansanvaltaa puolueiden ja hallituksen ehdoilla. Helsinki: Gaudeamus 2014, 91-108.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2013). Opening the Inner Circle of Power: Circulation in the Finnish Elites in the Context of Major Societal Changes 1991-2011. Comparative Sociology 12(2013), 255-288.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2013). Suomi murroksessa 1991-2011: Muuttuiko eliittirakenne? Politiikka 54:4, 269-284, 2012.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2014). Vallan sisäpiirissä. Suomalaisen eliittirakenteen muutos. Tampere: Vastapaino.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2014): The Changing Influence of the Finnish Parliament since the Early 1990s. Teoksessa Raunio, Tapio & Nurmi, Hannu (toim.), The Serious Game of Politics. Festschrift for Matti Wiberg. Helsinki: Finnish Political Science Association 2014, 177-192.

Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (2017): Poliittisten instituutioiden valta talouden suhdanteissa. Teoksessa Niemi, Mari K. & Raunio, Tapio & Ruostetsaari, Ilkka (toim.), Poliittinen valta Suomessa. Tampere: Vastapaino 2017, 31-57.