ABSTRACT
Contemporary theorists of power, particularly in their empirical enquiries into local communities, have conducted a protracted debate in recent years concerning the nature of power structures in these settings. Two alternative and competing views of power have been advanced. On the one hand, those whom Polsby (1963, pp. 8–11) terms ‘stratification’ theorists argue that political life in these communities is correctly described as being one in which governance proceeds through a relatively coherent ‘elite’. On the other hand, there are ‘pluralist’ theorists who are more likely to maintain that power resides not in any elite, but is widely dispersed amongst many competing and countervailing groups. These groups are located with respect to widely disparate issues and have different members, resources, skills, interests and domains.
