Local government in a North German town, 1513-1948 : a study in class and power

Using a social historical framework applied to Gottingen, North Germany, from the sixteenth century to 1948, the dynamics of local government structure are researched. This is seen through time as a corporate organisation of domains of externally oriented activity variably integrated with a decision-making core as an involute structure. Through examination of recruitment practices, administrative allocation and decision-making it is shown how integrated processes of decision-making (means of choice) constitute a framework for political action, where individuals have differential access to and control over critical events and modes of communication within that framework.Deriving from this, political activity in local government is analysed in terms of a categorisation of means and dimensional properties of power in local government. A link is made to a theoretical enquiry of the nature of social classes and the state and their implications for community politics. This provides the basis for an examination of class relations in Gottingen