The true test of power lies in the ability of the wielders to move others. If the ability is not exercised, a man may have latent power or he may merely be a symbolic figure in power operations. In many areas the hereditary elite have become symbolic, prestige figures. Such figures may be very important in the power pattern, but it is necessary to look elsewhere for those who exercise power. To cite an historical example, the major doom of the medieval Merovingian empire, founded the Carolingian line.
Symbolic figures serve two primary functions in social action systems.
They provide figures of reference and deference. The two functions are intertwined. The King may be a symbol in a whole scheme of action, but at some place there will be people who formulate policy and enforce decisions in his name. Visibility of hereditary and free systems compared. Due to the strength of hereditary ties and the ease which, which one can refer to those who have hereditary authority, a system of power built along such lines is more readily visible and much simpler in its operations than when decision-making and action enforcement is more diffuse.