Regarding the context of the survey in question, carried out by Lazarsfeld 

Here is a remembrance of Lazarfeld by his pupil Terry Nichols Clark:

<PFL said many times, you need a machine to advance an intellectual agenda.
His major examples were the research institutes which joined the methods of
survey research, the money of government and commerce, and the intellectual
ferment of the university.  He delighted in recounting incidents
illustrating his manipulative prowess>

This extracted from his paper: 

Clientelism and the University:  Was Columbia Sociology a Machine?

Headed by the quotes

Everyone needs a  machine (Lazarsfeld - frequently repeated to students and
assistants)

The key structural function of the Boss is to organize, centralize and
maintain in good working condition the “scattered fragments of power”... To
understand the role of bossism and the machine, therefore, we must look at
...(1) the structural context which ...[leaves] the door open for political
machines (or their structural equivalents)...and (2) the subgroups whose
distinctive needs are left unsatisfied...  Merton ([1949]1968: 126).

The paper is little referenced – and I am unclear as to whether it was ever
officially published – but if anyone wants to see it, I may be able to assist

Rob Tye


On Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:10:49 +0000, Colander, David C.
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Roy,
>
>Thanks for the citation. I think our views are similar--given the context
of the survey, the fact that people made no reference to examples of texts
that is not meaningful to the issue, and provides no useful information to
this particular debate.