ABSTRACT
The most distinctive feature of the social, economic and political system in Vienna is the ubiquity of connections and strings. The social environment of the average Viennese consists of networks of friendship and acquaintances that often serve no definite purpose other than to exist "in the event". This microcosmos of personal ties is capped by the party connection, which looms large over almost everybody's life by virtue of the pervasive influence of the parties in public and private affairs. Equally pervasive is the feeling among the citizens that they need this system, regardless of their personal attitude about it. The attitudes toward the political aspect of this all-embracing phenomenon vary with a person's education and with what the parties can offer that person from their horn of plenty, but attitudes of course also depend on biographical chance.
