Elite theory

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In philosophy, political science and sociology, elite theory is a theory of the state that seeks to describe and explain power relations in society. In its contemporary form in the 21st century, elite theory posits that (1) power in larger societies, especially nation-states, is concentrated at the top in relatively small elites; (2) power "flows predominantly in a top-down direction from elites to non-elites"; and (3) "the characteristics and actions of elites are crucial determinants of major political and social outcomes". [1]

Contents

The concept of the "elite" in this context goes beyond politicians or other leaders who wield the formal power of the state. Through positions in corporations, influence over policymaking networks, control over the financial support of foundations, and positions with think tanks, universities, or other policy-discussion groups, members of the elite exert significant power over corporate, government, and societal decisions. The basic characteristics of this theory are that power is concentrated, the elites are unified, the non-elites are diverse and powerless, elites' interests are unified due to common backgrounds and positions, and the defining characteristic of power is institutional position. [2] Elite theory opposes pluralism, a tradition that emphasizes how multiple major social groups and interests contribute to representative political outcomes that reflect the collective needs of society.

Even when entire groups are ostensibly completely excluded from the state's traditional networks of power (on the basis of arbitrary criteria such as gender, nobility, race, religion or poverty), elite theory recognizes that "counter-elites" frequently develop within such excluded groups. [3] Negotiations between such disenfranchised groups and the state can be analyzed as negotiations between elites and counter-elites. A major problem, in turn, is the ability of elites to co-opt counter-elites. [3]

Democratic systems function on the premise that voting behavior has a direct and noticeable effect on policy outcomes, and that these outcomes are preferred by the largest portion of voters. However, a study in 2014 correlated voters' preferences to policy outcomes and found that the statistical correlation between the two is heavily dependent on the income brackets of the voting groups. [4] At the lowest income bracket sampled, the correlation coefficient reached zero, whereas the highest income bracket returned a correlation above 0.6. The conclusion was that there is a strong, linear correlation between the income of voters and how often their policy preferences become reality. The causation for this correlation has not yet been proven in subsequent studies, but it is an area ripe for further research.

History

Ancient perspective

Polybius (≈150 B.C.) referred to (what we call today) Elite Theory as simply "autocracy". He posited that all three originating forms of sources of political power—one man (monarchy/executive), few men (aristocracy), many men (democracy)—would eventually be corrupted into a debased form of itself if not balanced in a "mixed government". Monarchy would become "tyranny", democracy would become "mob rule", and rule by elites (aristocracy) would become "oligarchy". [5] Polybius effectively said this is due to a failure to properly apply checks and balances between the three mentioned forms as well as subsequent political institutions.

Italian school of elitism

Vilfredo Pareto 1870s2.jpg
Gaetano Mosca.gif
Robert-michels.jpg
Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels

Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923), Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941) and Robert Michels (1876–1936) were cofounders of the Italian school of elitism, which influenced subsequent elite theory in the Western tradition. [6] [7]

The outlook of the Italian school of elitism is based on two ideas:

  1. Power lies in positions of authority in key economic and political institutions.
  2. The psychological difference that sets elites apart is that they have personal resources, for instance intelligence and skills, and a vested interest in the government; whilst the rest are incompetent and do not have the capabilities to govern themselves, the elite are resourceful and strive to make the government work. For, in reality, the elite would have the most to lose in a failed state.

Vilfredo Pareto

Pareto emphasized the psychological and intellectual superiority of elites, believing that they were the highest accomplishers in any field. He discussed the existence of two types of elites:

  1. Governing elites
  2. Non-governing elites

He also extended the idea that a whole elite can be replaced by a new one and how one can circulate from being elite to non-elite.

Gaetano Mosca

Mosca emphasized the sociological and personal characteristics of elites. He said elites are an organized minority and that the masses are an unorganized majority. The ruling class is composed of the ruling elite and the sub-elites. He divides the world into two groups:

  1. Political class
  2. Non-Political class

Mosca asserted that elites have intellectual, moral, and material superiority that is highly esteemed and influential.

Robert Michels

Sociologist Michels developed the iron law of oligarchy where, he asserts, social and political organizations are run by a few individuals, and social organization and labor division are key. He believed that all organizations were elitist and that elites have three basic principles that help in the bureaucratic structure of political organization:

  1. Need for leaders, specialized staff, and facilities
  2. Utilization of facilities by leaders within their organization
  3. The importance of the psychological attributes of the leaders

Contemporary elite theorists

Modern elite theory is distinguished from classical or normative elitism as articulated by Mosca, Pareto and Michels in that it attempts to merely present a "empirical picture of the way human societies operate", and is not "closely linked to a particular view" of how those societies should be organized. [8]

Elmer Eric Schattschneider

Elmer Eric Schattschneider offered a strong critique of the American political theory of pluralism: Rather than an essentially democratic system in which the many competing interests of citizens are amply represented, if not advanced, by equally many competing interest groups, Schattschneider argued that the pressure system is biased in favor of "the most educated and highest-income members of society", and showed that "the difference between those who participate in interest group activity and those who stand at the sidelines is much greater than between voters and nonvoters". [9]

In The Semisovereign People, Schattschneider argued that the scope of the pressure system is really quite small: The "range of organized, identifiable, known groups is amazingly narrow; there is nothing remotely universal about it" and the "business or upper-class bias of the pressure system shows up everywhere". He said that the "notion that the pressure system is automatically representative of the whole community is a myth" and, instead, the "system is skewed, loaded and unbalanced in favor of a fraction of a minority". [10]

C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills (left) and his assistant, Saul Landau (right). C. Wright Mills.jpg
C. Wright Mills (left) and his assistant, Saul Landau (right).

Mills published his book The Power Elite in 1956, in which he claimed to present a new sociological perspective on systems of power in the United States. He identified a triumvirate of power groups—political, economic and military—which form a distinguishable, although not unified, power-wielding body in the United States.

Mills proposed that this group had been generated through a process of rationalisation at work in all advanced industrial societies whereby the mechanisms of power became concentrated, funneling overall control into the hands of a limited, somewhat corrupt group. [11] This reflected a decline in politics as an arena for debate and relegation to a merely formal level of discourse. [12] This macro-scale analysis sought to point out the degradation of democracy in "advanced" societies and the fact that power generally lies outside the boundaries of elected representatives.

A main influence for the study was Franz Leopold Neumann's book, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism, 1933–1944, a study of how Nazism came to power in the German democratic state. It provided the tools to analyse the structure of a political system and served as a warning of what could happen in a modern capitalistic democracy.

Floyd Hunter

The elite theory analysis of power was also applied on the micro scale in community power studies such as that by Floyd Hunter (1953). Hunter examined in detail the power of relationships evident in his "Regional City" looking for the "real" holders of power rather than those in obvious official positions. He posited a structural-functional approach that mapped hierarchies and webs of interconnection within the city—mapping relationships of power between businessmen, politicians, clergy etc. The study was promoted to debunk current concepts of any "democracy" present within urban politics and reaffirm the arguments for a true representative democracy. [13] This type of analysis was also used in later, larger scale, studies such as that carried out by M. Schwartz examining the power structures within the sphere of the corporate elite in the United States. [14]

G. William Domhoff

In his controversial book, Who Rules America? (1967), G. William Domhoff researched local and national decision-making process networks, seeking to illustrate the power structure in the United States. He asserted, much like Hunter, that an elite class which owns and manages large income-producing properties (like banks and corporations) dominate the American power structure both politically and economically. [15]

James Burnham

Burnham's early work The Managerial Revolution sought to express the movement of all functional power into the hands of managers rather than politicians or businessmen—separating ownership and control. [16]

Robert D. Putnam

Putnam saw the development of technical and exclusive knowledge among administrators and other specialist groups as a mechanism that strips power from the democratic process and slips it to the advisors and specialists who influence the decision process. [17]

"If the dominant figures of the past hundred years have been the entrepreneur, the businessman, and the industrial executive, the ‘new men’ are the scientists, the mathematicians, the economists, and the engineers of the new intellectual technology." [18]

Thomas R. Dye

Dye in his book Top Down Policymaking argues that U.S. public policy does not result from the "demands of the people", but rather from elite consensus found in Washington, D.C.–based non-profit foundations, think tanks, special-interest groups, and prominent lobbying and law firms. Dye's thesis is further expanded upon in his works: The Irony of Democracy, Politics in America,Understanding Public Policy, and Who's Running America?.

George A. Gonzalez

In his book Corporate Power and the Environment, George A. Gonzalez writes on the power of U.S. economic elites to shape environmental policy for their own advantage. In The Politics of Air Pollution: Urban Growth, Ecological Modernization and Symbolic Inclusion and in Urban Sprawl, Global Warming, and the Empire of Capital, Gonzalez employs elite theory to explain the interrelationship between environmental policy and urban sprawl in America. His most recent work, Energy and Empire: The Politics of Nuclear and Solar Power in the United States demonstrates that economic elites tied their advocacy of the nuclear energy option to post-1945 American foreign policy goals, while at the same time these elites opposed government support for other forms of energy such as solar, that cannot be dominated by one nation.

Ralf Dahrendorf

In his book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, [19] Ralf Dahrendorf asserts that, due to the advanced level of competence required for political activity, a political party tends to become, actually, a provider of "political services", that is, the administration of local and governmental public offices. During the electoral campaign, each party tries to convince voters it is the most suitable for managing the state's business. The logical consequence of this would be to acknowledge this character and to openly register the parties as service providing companies. In this way, the ruling class would include the members and associates of legally acknowledged companies and the "class that is ruled" would select, by election, the state administration company that best fits its interests.

Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page

In their statistical analysis of 1,779 policy issues, professors Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page found that "economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence." [20] [21] Critics cited by Vox.com argued, using the same dataset, that when the rich and the middle class disagreed, the rich got their preferred outcome 53 percent of the time and the middle class got what they wanted 47 percent of the time. Some critics disagree with Gilens and Pages' headline conclusion, but do believe that the dataset confirms that "the rich and middle (class) are effective at blocking policies that the poor want". [22]

Thomas Ferguson

The political scientist Thomas Ferguson's book Investment Theory of Party Competition can be thought of as an elite theory. Set out most extensively in his 1995 book, Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-driven Political Systems, the theory begins by noting that in modern political systems the cost of acquiring political awareness is so great that no citizen can afford it. [23] As a consequence, these systems tend be dominated by those who can, most typically elites and corporations. These elites then seek to influence politics by 'investing' in the parties or policies they support through political contributions and other means such as endorsements in the media.[ citation needed ]

Neema Parvini

In his 2022 book, The Populist Delusion, [24] Neema Parvini asserts that ‘the will of the people’ does not impact political decisions and that ‘elite driven change’ better explains the realities of political power. In the book Parvini introduces Elite Theory by explicating the theories of other Elite Theorists: Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, Robert Michels, Carl Schmitt, Bertrande de Jouvenel, James Burnham, Samuel T. Francis and Paul Gottfried. In explaining the thinkers and applying their frameworks to Western political history, Parvini concludes the true functioning of power to be “where an organized minority elite rule over a disorganized mass”. [25] Parvini also discusses and presents Elite Theory and the arguments made in The Populist Delusion on his YouTube channel, Academic Agent. [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

Oligarchy is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control.

A plutocracy or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established political philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilfredo Pareto</span> Italian polymath (1848–1923)

Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was an Italian polymath, whose areas of interest included sociology, civil engineering, economics, political science, and philosophy. He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices. He was also responsible for popularising the use of the term elite in social analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aristocracy</span> Form of government

Aristocracy is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political movement</span> Movement to obtain a political goal

A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some theories of political movements are the political opportunity theory, which states that political movements stem from mere circumstances, and the resource mobilization theory which states that political movements result from strategic organization and relevant resources. Political movements are also related to political parties in the sense that they both aim to make an impact on the government and that several political parties have emerged from initial political movements. While political parties are engaged with a multitude of issues, political movements tend to focus on only one major issue.

Populism is a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of the common people and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite group. It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed in the late 19th century and has been applied to various politicians, parties and movements since that time, often as a pejorative. Within political science and other social sciences, several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that the term be rejected altogether.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political sociology</span> Branch of sociology

Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how power is distributed and changes throughout and amongst societies, political sociology's focus ranges across individual families to the state as sites of social and political conflict and power contestation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Michels</span> German-Italian sociologist (1876–1936)

Robert Michels was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron law of oligarchy</span> Political theory developed by Robert Michels

The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory first developed by the German-born Italian sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book Political Parties. It asserts that rule by an elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an "iron law" within any democratic organization as part of the "tactical and technical necessities" of the organization.

<i>Political Parties</i> 1911 book by Robert Michels

Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by the German-born Italian sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy. It is considered one of the classics of social sciences, in particular sociology and political science.

In sociology and in political science, the term The Establishment describes the dominant social group, the elite who control a polity, an organization, or an institution. In the praxis of wealth and power, the Establishment usually is a self-selecting, closed elite entrenched within specific institutions — hence, a relatively small social class can exercise all socio-political control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of sociology articles</span>

This is an index of sociology articles. For a shorter list, see List of basic sociology topics.

<i>The Power Elite</i> 1956 book by C. Wright Mills

The Power Elite is a 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of the American society and suggests that the ordinary citizen in modern times is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those three entities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elite</span> Group or class of persons enjoying superior status

In political and sociological theory, the elite are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, the "elite" are "the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaetano Mosca</span> Italian political scientist and journalist

Gaetano Mosca was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the elite theory and the doctrine of the political class and is one of the three members constituting the Italian school of elitism together with Vilfredo Pareto and Robert Michels.

Classical pluralism is the view that politics and decision-making are located mostly in the framework of government but that many non-governmental groups use their resources to exert influence. The central question for classical pluralism is how power and influence are distributed in a political process. Groups of individuals try to maximize their interests. Lines of conflict are multiple and shifting as power is a continuous bargaining process between competing groups. There may be inequalities but they tend to be distributed and evened out by the various forms and distributions of resources throughout a population. Any change under this view will be slow and incremental, as groups have different interests and may act as "veto groups" to destroy legislation. The existence of diverse and competing interests is the basis for a democratic equilibrium, and is crucial for the obtaining of goals by individuals.

Elitism is the notion that individuals who form an elite — a select group with desirable qualities such as intellect, wealth, power, physical attractiveness, notability, special skills, experience, lineage — are more likely to be constructive to society and deserve greater influence or authority. The term elitism may be used to describe a situation in which power is concentrated in the hands of a limited number of people. Beliefs that are in opposition to elitism include egalitarianism, anti-intellectualism, populism, and the political theory of pluralism.

Criticism of democracy, or debate on democracy and the different aspects of how to implement democracy best have been widely discussed. There are both internal critics and external ones who reject the values promoted by constitutional democracy.

Political class is a concept in comparative political science, originally developed by Italian political theorist Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941). It refers to the relatively small group of activists that is highly aware and active in politics, and from whom the national leadership is largely drawn. As Max Weber noted, they not only live "for politics"—like the old notables used to—but make their careers "off politics" as policy specialists and experts on specific fields of public administration. Mosca approached the study of the political class by examining the mechanisms of reproduction and renewal of the ruling class; the characteristics of politicians; and the different forms of organisation developed in their wielding of power.

The Invisible Class Empire is a term introduced by Robert Perrucci and Earl Wysong in their book titled, The New Class Society: Goodbye American Dream? The term refers to members of the superclass that are involved in shaping both political and corporate policies. This class of people may be thought of as an empire because members maintain an influence on society through access to a surplus of financial, cultural, human and social capital. These various forms of capital translate into the political force needed to preserve classwide vested interests. Unlike conspiracy theories of power and control, the superclass' political influence is evidenced in the reality of economic and political inequalities that maintain class hierarchies. The term, therefore, refers to "the hidden structures and processes through which superclass leaders, along with their credentialed-class allies, penetrate and dominate the American political system." The empire is "invisible" because many of the individuals involved receive very little or no public attention.

References

  1. ↑ Pakulski, Jan (2018). "The Development of Elite Theory". In Best, Heinrich; Higley, John (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 9–16. ISBN   9781137519047. (At pp. 12-13.)
  2. ↑ Shannon, Deric; Glasberg, Davita Silfen (2011). Political Sociology: Oppression, Resistance, and the State. Pine Forge Press. p. 35. ISBN   9781412980401. OCLC   746832550.
  3. 1 2 Dryzek, John; Dunleavy, Patrick (2009). Theories of the Democratic State. London: Red Globe Press. pp. 66–68. ISBN   9780230366459.
  4. ↑ Gilens, M., & Page, B. (2014). Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564-581. doi:10.1017/S1537592714001595
  5. ↑ Polybius.(≈150 B.C.) The Rise of the Roman Empire: Book 6. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (1979). Penguin Books; London, England
  6. ↑ Robert A. Nye, The Anti-Democratic Sources of Elite Theory: Pareto, Mosca, Michels, Sage, 1977.
  7. ↑ J. J. Chambliss (ed.), Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2013, p. 179.
  8. ↑ Dunleavy, Patrick; O'Leary, Brendan (1987). Theories of the State: The Politics of Liberal Democracy. London: Macmillan Education. p. 138. ISBN   9781349186655.
  9. ↑ Woolley and Papa 1998, 165
  10. ↑ Schattschneider 1960, 30-36
  11. ↑ Bottomore, T. (1993). Elites and Society (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 25.
  12. ↑ Mills, C. Wright (1956). The Power Elite. Oxford University Press. p.  274. ISBN   0-19-541759-3.
  13. ↑ Hunter, Floyd (1953). Community Power Structure: A Study of Decision Makers . University of North Carolina Press. p.  6. ISBN   0-8078-0639-0.
  14. ↑ Schwartz, M., ed. (1987). The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier. ISBN   0-8419-0764-1.
  15. ↑ Domhoff, G. William (1967). Who Rules America?. McGraw-Hill. ISBN   0-7674-1637-6.
  16. ↑ Bottomore, T. (1993). Elites and Society (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 59.
  17. ↑ Putnam, Robert D. (1977). "Elite Transformation in Advance Industrial Societies: An Empirical Assessment of the Theory of Technocracy". Comparative Political Studies. 10 (3): 383–411 (p.385). doi:10.1177/001041407701000305. S2CID   154141193.
  18. ↑ Putnam, Robert D. (1976). The Comparative Study of Political Elites . New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p.  384. ISBN   0-13-154195-1.
  19. ↑ Dahrendorf, Ralf (1990) Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: In a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Warsaw. New York: Random House
  20. ↑ "Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy". BBC News. 17 April 2014. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  21. ↑ Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens Archived 2014-08-03 at the Wayback Machine (Fall 2014)
  22. ↑ Matthews, Dylan (9 May 2016). "Remember that study saying America is an oligarchy? 3 rebuttals say it's wrong". Vox. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  23. ↑ Ferguson, Thomas (1995). Golden Rule : The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN   0226243176.
  24. ↑ Parvini, Neema (2022). The Populist Delusion. Perth: Imperium Press. ISBN   9781922602442.
  25. ↑ Parvini, Neema (2022). The Populist Delusion. Perth: Imperium Press. p. 143. ISBN   9781922602442.
  26. ↑ Adams, Alexander (2022-05-06). "Book Review: The Populist Delusion". Bournbrook Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-22.

Bibliography

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