Study title

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....