Ten or fifteen years ago, when I was editor of a daily newspaper in a Midwestern town, my staff and I began to think about the local "power structure." We realized we weren't sure what it was. Who were the kingmakers, the movers and shakers, the people to whom others looked to make things happen? We decided to find out.
We identified ten important activities, like politics, labor, and manufacturing, and we listed ten people in each who seemed most important.
We sent all 100 people a questionnaire with this payload question: "Who are the most powerful or influential people in the community?" When we had the results, we would interview those named, attempting to identify the lines of power.
