Study of Writers and Literati in Cologne, Germany (1991)

Investigators: Helmut Anheier and Jurgen Gerhards

Population: Writers (Fiction)

Identification method: Population list compiled from various sources: several published and unpublished directories, publishers, critics, cultural institutions, and local writer’s groups (German Writer’s Association). The investigators defined writer as any producer of fictional texts.

Sampling procedure: No sample, total population enumerated was surveyed.

N and Response rate: 67.6 percent (150 of 222) personal interviews. Using secondary sources the investigators gathered information on age, sex, and number of publications. This information was used to compare the respondents to the missing cases, and no statistically significant differences were found.

Publications: Anheier, et al. 1995. "Forms of Capital and Social Structure in Cultural Fields." American Journal of Sociology 100: 859-903.

Anheier, H.K, and Gerhards, J. 1991. "Literary Myths and Social Structure." Social Forces 69: 811-30.

Anheier, H.K, and Gerhards, J. 1991. "The Acknowledgement of Literary Influence: A Structural Analysis of a German Literary Network." Sociological Forum 6: 137-55.

Summary: The study investigated various aspects of social life, literary influence, economic situation, and knowledge of and relation to other writers in Germany. (Anheier et al. 1995) used blockmodeling (a network analysis procedure) to identify social structure and its likely causes.