Community influence in Humboldt County: a comment regarding power

This thesis examines relationships between social demographic variables and power relationships which affected community power in Humboldt County, California during the fall of 2006. The research question asks what factors are necessary to sustain a viable democracy, and explores what a select group of Humboldt County knowledgeables believe about politics of influence, economic development, the county's strengths and challenges, and the overall future of Humboldt County. These interviews form a triangulation with sociological power theory, and economic and cultural variables to inform a discussion of community influence. The thesis was designed for both academics and community members who have an interest in decision processes, and who desire to inspire and create understandings of community empowerment. The methodology implemented utilized the reputational method. Both a qualitative and quantitative focus was used to understand influence variables. A list of Humboldt County's most influential individuals and organizations was created from this data, and concerns about Humboldt's future and strengths and weaknesses were examined. The findings of this study indicate that Humboldt's community power structure underwent low to moderate changes between 2000 and 2006, and portray Humboldt as relatively pluralistic. Future studies would benefit from a larger interview sample, greater variation of informants, and a network analysis component. Replications could utilize this study, Bearbower's 2000 thesis, and Jerry Krause's 1990 study on the Humboldt County power structure for comparison.