Power, Distinction, Display: Excavating Elites

Elite Women in 1940: 

A Sea of Sociability but Excluded from the Centers of Power

Although married women outnumber men in the 1940 network, the most powerful and influential positions within the nework were still dominated by men. In fact, the distribution of social capital among men, married women, and single women was even more unequal. 

Comparison of Social Capital Metrics

Men in 1940, men continued to control the overwhelming majority of social capital.  The top twenty men in 1860 captured 12% of the total, rising to 17% in 1900, and remaining high in 1940 at 15.5% of the total individual hub scores. The situation for married women and single women remained unchanged in terms of their share of total individual hubscores.  Despite being a majority of the total network members, women only accumulated  a fragment in comparison to men. The top twenty married women again captured only 0.3% of the social capital, and the top twenty single women controlled on 0.1% of the social capital. 

Put another way, of the total individual social capital (12.5613) in the elite network of 1940, all the men owned 12.474, all the married women owned 0.0699, and all the single women owned 0.0171.