C H Ellersgaard
Biographic Data
| ID | 58588 |
|---|---|
| NAME | C H Ellersgaard |
| GIVEN NAMES | C H |
| FAMILY NAME | Ellersgaard |
| SIGNATURE | ELLERSGAARD C H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Copenhagen Business School |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2512-1477 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Overlapping social circles in historical elite career networks: Measuring accumulated social status with ‘k-circles’ and circle esteem in bipartite networks
By extending Breiger’s (1974) notion of the duality of persons and groups to biographical data, individuals and organisations can be linked through career overlaps, formalised as k -circles, a minimal members decomposition approach. This k -circle measure is used to identify key individuals and organisations in biographies of more than 30,000 Danish elites between 1910 and 2020. We compare the central circle based on CV data to an elite identifie…
How technocratic is the power elite? A new approach and evidence from a mixed-method study of the Danish power elite
The Power Elite in Greenland
In this research note, we map the power elite in Greenland, amidst the current geopolitical interest in the nation. Using social network analysis, we identify a power elite of 123 individuals as the central circle in an extensive affiliation network data on 3412 positions held by a total 2052 individuals in 456 affiliations. We find an integrated and cohesive power elite dominated by actors from politics and public and private enterprises. When c…
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
How career hubs shape the global corporate elite
In this contribution, we introduce 'career hubs' as an alternative to interlocking directorates and propose to study transnational corporate elite networks with this new concept. Career hubs, the most frequent common career organizations, put emphasis on knowledge brokering and allow us to study a larger variety of organizations to understand the form and the spread of elite networks. We use a sample of 1366 firms on the Forbes 2000 list of 2018 …
Protégés of power: Patrimonialism in mobility narratives of the Danish power elite
Career narratives among the Danish power elite often include the facilitating presence of an elite superior. We explore the role patrons play in the mobility narratives of the Danish power elite. Drawing from a highly select group identified in the core of elite networks, we interviewed 37 individuals selected for maximal variation in career paths, networks and positions within the power elite. We referenced the concept of patrimonialism to under…
Elite Cohesion and Social Closure: The Evolution of Reproduction Processes in the Core of Swiss Elite Networks (1910-2015)
The Meaning of Merit: Talent versus Hard Work Legitimacy
Elites often use merit to explain, justify, and make sense of their advantaged positions. But what exactly do they mean by this? In this paper, we draw on 71 interviews with elites in Denmark and the UK to compare self-justifications of meritocratic legitimacy. Our results indicate that while elites in both countries are united by a common concern to frame their merits as spontaneously recognized by others (rather than strategically promoted by t…
The Power Elite in the Welfare State 2012–2017: Stability and Change in the Key Institutional Orders of the Core of Power Networks in Denmark
C. Wright Mills’ framework of power elites did not just address the power structure of post-World War II America. We propose a methodological framework to identify this group—by locating individuals sitting at the core of elite networks—arguing that the sector composition of this group reflects the relative importance of institutional orders within the limits of a nation-state. With two comprehensive sets of network data, composed of around 5,000…
From integrated to fragmented elites. The core of Swiss elite networks 1910-2015
This article focuses on historical elite dynamics and investigates elites' integration over time. We describe the changing relations and composition of the central circles in Swiss elite networks at seven benchmark years between 1910 and 2015 by relying on 22,262 elite individuals tied to 2587 organizations among eight key sectors, and identify for each year the most connected core of individuals. We explore network cohesion and sectoral bridging…
Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing
This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of anonymized interviewees becomes increasingly difficult in interviews with persons who hold prestigious…
The Established and the Delegated: The Division of Labour of Domination among Effective Agents on the Field of Power in Denmark
What is the relationship between the various forms of power held by elites in contemporary society? Using Bourdieu's notion of the field of power, we address this question by exploring the division of labour of domination among contemporary Danish elites. Via a specific multiple correspondence analysis of 44 variables with 198 categories, we examine the relationship between the volume and distribution of various forms of capital held by 423 indiv…
Quiet Politics, Trade Unions, and the Political Elite Network: The Case of Denmark
Pepper Culpepper's seminal Quiet Politics and Business Power has revitalized the study of when business elites can shape policies away from public scrutiny. This article takes the concept of quiet politics to a new, and surprising, set of actors: trade union leaders. Focusing on the case of Denmark, it argues that quiet politics functions through political elite networks and that this way of doing politics favors a particular kind of corporatist …
Pathways to the power elite: The organizational landscape of elite careers
To capture elites, we must map out the organizational landscape through which they pass during their careers. This organizational landscape moulds the character of elites, tells us about the prestige of organizations that are elite incubators and provides valuable indicators about how different sectoral experiences serve to accumulate capital for the elite. Unpacking the organizational experience challenges theoretical and methodological understa…
Who listens to the top? Integration of the largest corporations across sectoral networks
Corporations use ties to other powerful organisations to influence the rules that structure their markets and the society in which they operate. The corporate interlocks created by board directors show how some corporations are more successful than others in integrating not only in the corporate world but also in other sectors. Neil Fligstein suggested that the best-organised and dominating corporations, or the incumbents, are the most successful…
The inner circle revisited: The Case of an Egalitarian Society
The interlocks within the corporate elite in a highly egalitarian society, the negotiated economy of the Scandinavian welfare state of Denmark, are examined by critically reassessing Michael Useem’s notion of the inner circle. Using a new measure of social circles memberships based on proximity in social networks, we identify a cohesive core group of 171 individuals within a corporate elite of 6154 board members of the top 1037 Danish corporation…
Identifying power elites—k-cores in heterogeneous affiliation networks
Forskningsnote: Det tværgående magtnetværk – Magteliten som toppen af de vigtigste sektorer i Danmark
Denne forskningsnote identificerer den danske magtelite og undersøger dens sammensætning ved hjælp af netværksanalyse anvendt på det samlede danske magtnetværk 2012-13. Der gives en beskrivelse af tværsektorielle forbindelser i magtnetværket med særligt fokus på magtelitens betydning for sammenhængskraften i netværket. Det samlede magtnetværk består af 5.079 affiliations-netværk, som er indsamlet ved hjælp af den såkaldt inklusive metode. En kern…
A Very Economic Elite: The Case of the Danish Top CEOs
Although the business elites in western societies have a very privileged social background in common, there are substantial differences in the reproduction mechanisms and social trajectories leading to a position within this elite group. These differences are explored by comparing the career paths of the top 100 CEOs in Britain, France, Germany and Denmark. In France and Britain, this reproduction is mediated through degrees from elite universiti…
Kulturel kapital blandt topdirektører i Danmark – En domineret kapitalform
Betydningen af institutionaliseret kulturel kapital i form af diplomer fra højere læreanstalter er central for Bourdieus forståelse af dominansrelationer i det franske samfund omkring 1980’erne. Imidlertid viser en prosopografi – en kollektiv, relationel biografi – af de 100 vigtigste danske topdirektører i 2007, at universitetsgrader ikke har samme betydning i Danmark som i større industrilande. Snarere end kulturel kapital har især kapital opnå…
A Very Economic Elite: The Case of the Danish Top CEOs
Although the business elites in western societies have a very privileged social background in common, there are substantial differences in the reproduction mechanisms and social trajectories leading to a position within this elite group. These differences are explored by comparing the career paths of the top 100 CEOs in Britain, France, Germany and Denmark. In France and Britain, this reproduction is mediated through degrees from elite universiti…
Pathways to the power elite: The organizational landscape of elite careers
To capture elites, we must map out the organizational landscape through which they pass during their careers. This organizational landscape moulds the character of elites, tells us about the prestige of organizations that are elite incubators and provides valuable indicators about how different sectoral experiences serve to accumulate capital for the elite. Unpacking the organizational experience challenges theoretical and methodological understa…
The Meaning of Merit: Talent versus Hard Work Legitimacy
Elites often use merit to explain, justify, and make sense of their advantaged positions. But what exactly do they mean by this? In this paper, we draw on 71 interviews with elites in Denmark and the UK to compare self-justifications of meritocratic legitimacy. Our results indicate that while elites in both countries are united by a common concern to frame their merits as spontaneously recognized by others (rather than strategically promoted by t…
From integrated to fragmented elites. The core of Swiss elite networks 1910-2015
This article focuses on historical elite dynamics and investigates elites' integration over time. We describe the changing relations and composition of the central circles in Swiss elite networks at seven benchmark years between 1910 and 2015 by relying on 22,262 elite individuals tied to 2587 organizations among eight key sectors, and identify for each year the most connected core of individuals. We explore network cohesion and sectoral bridging…
The inner circle revisited: The Case of an Egalitarian Society
The interlocks within the corporate elite in a highly egalitarian society, the negotiated economy of the Scandinavian welfare state of Denmark, are examined by critically reassessing Michael Useem’s notion of the inner circle. Using a new measure of social circles memberships based on proximity in social networks, we identify a cohesive core group of 171 individuals within a corporate elite of 6154 board members of the top 1037 Danish corporation…
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
The Established and the Delegated: The Division of Labour of Domination among Effective Agents on the Field of Power in Denmark
What is the relationship between the various forms of power held by elites in contemporary society? Using Bourdieu's notion of the field of power, we address this question by exploring the division of labour of domination among contemporary Danish elites. Via a specific multiple correspondence analysis of 44 variables with 198 categories, we examine the relationship between the volume and distribution of various forms of capital held by 423 indiv…
Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing
This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of anonymized interviewees becomes increasingly difficult in interviews with persons who hold prestigious…
Quiet Politics, Trade Unions, and the Political Elite Network: The Case of Denmark
Pepper Culpepper's seminal Quiet Politics and Business Power has revitalized the study of when business elites can shape policies away from public scrutiny. This article takes the concept of quiet politics to a new, and surprising, set of actors: trade union leaders. Focusing on the case of Denmark, it argues that quiet politics functions through political elite networks and that this way of doing politics favors a particular kind of corporatist …
How career hubs shape the global corporate elite
In this contribution, we introduce 'career hubs' as an alternative to interlocking directorates and propose to study transnational corporate elite networks with this new concept. Career hubs, the most frequent common career organizations, put emphasis on knowledge brokering and allow us to study a larger variety of organizations to understand the form and the spread of elite networks. We use a sample of 1366 firms on the Forbes 2000 list of 2018 …
How technocratic is the power elite? A new approach and evidence from a mixed-method study of the Danish power elite
Elite Cohesion and Social Closure: The Evolution of Reproduction Processes in the Core of Swiss Elite Networks (1910-2015)
Kulturel kapital blandt topdirektører i Danmark – En domineret kapitalform
Betydningen af institutionaliseret kulturel kapital i form af diplomer fra højere læreanstalter er central for Bourdieus forståelse af dominansrelationer i det franske samfund omkring 1980’erne. Imidlertid viser en prosopografi – en kollektiv, relationel biografi – af de 100 vigtigste danske topdirektører i 2007, at universitetsgrader ikke har samme betydning i Danmark som i større industrilande. Snarere end kulturel kapital har især kapital opnå…
A Very Economic Elite: The Case of the Danish Top CEOs
Although the business elites in western societies have a very privileged social background in common, there are substantial differences in the reproduction mechanisms and social trajectories leading to a position within this elite group. These differences are explored by comparing the career paths of the top 100 CEOs in Britain, France, Germany and Denmark. In France and Britain, this reproduction is mediated through degrees from elite universiti…
Forskningsnote: Det tværgående magtnetværk – Magteliten som toppen af de vigtigste sektorer i Danmark
Denne forskningsnote identificerer den danske magtelite og undersøger dens sammensætning ved hjælp af netværksanalyse anvendt på det samlede danske magtnetværk 2012-13. Der gives en beskrivelse af tværsektorielle forbindelser i magtnetværket med særligt fokus på magtelitens betydning for sammenhængskraften i netværket. Det samlede magtnetværk består af 5.079 affiliations-netværk, som er indsamlet ved hjælp af den såkaldt inklusive metode. En kern…
Identifying power elites—k-cores in heterogeneous affiliation networks
The inner circle revisited: The Case of an Egalitarian Society
The interlocks within the corporate elite in a highly egalitarian society, the negotiated economy of the Scandinavian welfare state of Denmark, are examined by critically reassessing Michael Useem’s notion of the inner circle. Using a new measure of social circles memberships based on proximity in social networks, we identify a cohesive core group of 171 individuals within a corporate elite of 6154 board members of the top 1037 Danish corporation…
Pathways to the power elite: The organizational landscape of elite careers
To capture elites, we must map out the organizational landscape through which they pass during their careers. This organizational landscape moulds the character of elites, tells us about the prestige of organizations that are elite incubators and provides valuable indicators about how different sectoral experiences serve to accumulate capital for the elite. Unpacking the organizational experience challenges theoretical and methodological understa…
Who listens to the top? Integration of the largest corporations across sectoral networks
Corporations use ties to other powerful organisations to influence the rules that structure their markets and the society in which they operate. The corporate interlocks created by board directors show how some corporations are more successful than others in integrating not only in the corporate world but also in other sectors. Neil Fligstein suggested that the best-organised and dominating corporations, or the incumbents, are the most successful…
Say my name? Anonymity or not in elite interviewing
This article discusses anonymizing elite interviewees. Based on our experiences with interviewing professional elites and ultra-elites in different research projects, we describe how the types of conflicts involving analysis and publication change when interviewees are not promised anonymity. We discuss how contextualizing the elite positions of anonymized interviewees becomes increasingly difficult in interviews with persons who hold prestigious…
The Established and the Delegated: The Division of Labour of Domination among Effective Agents on the Field of Power in Denmark
What is the relationship between the various forms of power held by elites in contemporary society? Using Bourdieu's notion of the field of power, we address this question by exploring the division of labour of domination among contemporary Danish elites. Via a specific multiple correspondence analysis of 44 variables with 198 categories, we examine the relationship between the volume and distribution of various forms of capital held by 423 indiv…
Quiet Politics, Trade Unions, and the Political Elite Network: The Case of Denmark
Pepper Culpepper's seminal Quiet Politics and Business Power has revitalized the study of when business elites can shape policies away from public scrutiny. This article takes the concept of quiet politics to a new, and surprising, set of actors: trade union leaders. Focusing on the case of Denmark, it argues that quiet politics functions through political elite networks and that this way of doing politics favors a particular kind of corporatist …
From integrated to fragmented elites. The core of Swiss elite networks 1910-2015
This article focuses on historical elite dynamics and investigates elites' integration over time. We describe the changing relations and composition of the central circles in Swiss elite networks at seven benchmark years between 1910 and 2015 by relying on 22,262 elite individuals tied to 2587 organizations among eight key sectors, and identify for each year the most connected core of individuals. We explore network cohesion and sectoral bridging…
The Power Elite in the Welfare State 2012–2017: Stability and Change in the Key Institutional Orders of the Core of Power Networks in Denmark
C. Wright Mills’ framework of power elites did not just address the power structure of post-World War II America. We propose a methodological framework to identify this group—by locating individuals sitting at the core of elite networks—arguing that the sector composition of this group reflects the relative importance of institutional orders within the limits of a nation-state. With two comprehensive sets of network data, composed of around 5,000…
How career hubs shape the global corporate elite
In this contribution, we introduce 'career hubs' as an alternative to interlocking directorates and propose to study transnational corporate elite networks with this new concept. Career hubs, the most frequent common career organizations, put emphasis on knowledge brokering and allow us to study a larger variety of organizations to understand the form and the spread of elite networks. We use a sample of 1366 firms on the Forbes 2000 list of 2018 …
Protégés of power: Patrimonialism in mobility narratives of the Danish power elite
Career narratives among the Danish power elite often include the facilitating presence of an elite superior. We explore the role patrons play in the mobility narratives of the Danish power elite. Drawing from a highly select group identified in the core of elite networks, we interviewed 37 individuals selected for maximal variation in career paths, networks and positions within the power elite. We referenced the concept of patrimonialism to under…
Elite Cohesion and Social Closure: The Evolution of Reproduction Processes in the Core of Swiss Elite Networks (1910-2015)
The Meaning of Merit: Talent versus Hard Work Legitimacy
Elites often use merit to explain, justify, and make sense of their advantaged positions. But what exactly do they mean by this? In this paper, we draw on 71 interviews with elites in Denmark and the UK to compare self-justifications of meritocratic legitimacy. Our results indicate that while elites in both countries are united by a common concern to frame their merits as spontaneously recognized by others (rather than strategically promoted by t…
Overlapping social circles in historical elite career networks: Measuring accumulated social status with ‘k-circles’ and circle esteem in bipartite networks
By extending Breiger’s (1974) notion of the duality of persons and groups to biographical data, individuals and organisations can be linked through career overlaps, formalised as k -circles, a minimal members decomposition approach. This k -circle measure is used to identify key individuals and organisations in biographies of more than 30,000 Danish elites between 1910 and 2020. We compare the central circle based on CV data to an elite identifie…
How technocratic is the power elite? A new approach and evidence from a mixed-method study of the Danish power elite
The Power Elite in Greenland
In this research note, we map the power elite in Greenland, amidst the current geopolitical interest in the nation. Using social network analysis, we identify a power elite of 123 individuals as the central circle in an extensive affiliation network data on 3412 positions held by a total 2052 individuals in 456 affiliations. We find an integrated and cohesive power elite dominated by actors from politics and public and private enterprises. When c…
Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED)
The strategies, decisions and beliefs of those who occupy prominent positions of economic power have influence on very large corporations and the markets they dominate, on vast amounts of economic resources, and on the rules of the game. However, the sociology of elites faces a dual challenge: divergent conceptualisations of what can be considered as a position of economic power and internationally incompatible sources of information hinder compa…
Political science (17 works) · Elite (14 works) · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism (14 works) · Law (14 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Social and Cultural Dynamics (10 works) · Economics (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (6 works)