Approfondimento: Elite and Elitism
Elite is a term applied to those individuals or groups in any society who exercise power, possess superior wealth, or enjoy elevated status and prestige. In everyday use, elite contrasts with the masses and is sometimes used synonymously with upper-class. Elite as a concept, however, is more specific and designates a particular group or individual that enjoys high status, is wealthy, or controls major institutions in contemporary societies.
The modern sociological theory of elites is associated with the writings of the late-19th-century social thinkers Vilfredo PARETO and Gaetano MOSCA. They, in turn, were reflecting the treatment of the social role of elites in the works of such earlier writers as Plato, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and, especially, Machiavelli. The work of Pareto and Mosca was an attempt to explain by a systematic and abstract theory the great historic changes then occurring in European societies, namely the rise of the modern bureaucratic state, the spread of market economies, and the process of industrialization. Pareto and Mosca located the source of change in the activity of elite ruling groups, who directed the operations of government and economy. Pareto and Mosca were interested in how the various kinds of elites--military, religious, political, and intellectual--were internally organized and related; how they perpetuated their power, wealth, and status; and how they replaced each other over time. The last aspect was expressed as the circulation of elites in the classic formulation of Pareto, who suggested that innovative and conservative elites tend to alternate over different historical periods.
In the wake of the European fascist movements, which transformed democratic states through elitist doctrines, American and British political sociologists became interested after World War II in the study of both the formal exercise of power and the informal subcultures among groups of ruling elites in the democratic societies of Europe and the United States. Also, social scientists focused attention on the new and old elites of the nation-states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as they emerged from the period of Western colonialism. The ideas of Pareto and Mosca provided the framework for research projects in these two areas.
The central debate that dominated research on elites, especially in the United States, through the 1950s, 1960s, and mid-1970s, was between those, such as C. Wright MILLS, who asserted that there was a power elite--a close-knit, integrated organization of elites at the highest levels of political, economic, and cultural institutions--and those, such as Robert Dahl, who asserted that the organization of elites in American society was pluralistic. According to the latter view, elites were not one single coordinated organization dominating society, but were many groups of diverse origin competing for positions of power and prestige. The so-called pluralists asserted the fulfillment of democratic ideals in practice. Since the mid-1970s, theories on elites again have been concerned with the historic role of the state in guiding modern societies and the participation of various kinds of elite groups in the process of government. Rather than emphasizing the forms and social composition of elite groups and their impact on society, however, current research has focused on the culture, ideologies, life styles, and outlooks of elites. It thus points to more subtle, indirect ways in which elites affect society through their involvements with routine affairs of state and the making of policy. While retaining some of the ideas of Pareto and Mosca, current studies have been influenced more by theories derived from the work of Karl MARX.
George Marcus
Bibliography: Clarke, H.D., and Czudnowski, M.M., eds., Political Elites in Anglo-American Democracies (1987); Marger, M.N., Elites and Masses, 2d ed. (1987); Mills, C. Wright, The Power Elite (1956); Marcus, G. E., Elites: Ethnographic Issues (1983); Standworth, P., and Giddens, A., eds., Elites and Power in British Society (1974).
(da: Grolier Electronic Publishing)
The modern sociological theory of elites is associated with the writings of the late-19th-century social thinkers Vilfredo PARETO and Gaetano MOSCA. They, in turn, were reflecting the treatment of the social role of elites in the works of such earlier writers as Plato, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and, especially, Machiavelli. The work of Pareto and Mosca was an attempt to explain by a systematic and abstract theory the great historic changes then occurring in European societies, namely the rise of the modern bureaucratic state, the spread of market economies, and the process of industrialization. Pareto and Mosca located the source of change in the activity of elite ruling groups, who directed the operations of government and economy. Pareto and Mosca were interested in how the various kinds of elites--military, religious, political, and intellectual--were internally organized and related; how they perpetuated their power, wealth, and status; and how they replaced each other over time. The last aspect was expressed as the circulation of elites in the classic formulation of Pareto, who suggested that innovative and conservative elites tend to alternate over different historical periods.
In the wake of the European fascist movements, which transformed democratic states through elitist doctrines, American and British political sociologists became interested after World War II in the study of both the formal exercise of power and the informal subcultures among groups of ruling elites in the democratic societies of Europe and the United States. Also, social scientists focused attention on the new and old elites of the nation-states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as they emerged from the period of Western colonialism. The ideas of Pareto and Mosca provided the framework for research projects in these two areas.
The central debate that dominated research on elites, especially in the United States, through the 1950s, 1960s, and mid-1970s, was between those, such as C. Wright MILLS, who asserted that there was a power elite--a close-knit, integrated organization of elites at the highest levels of political, economic, and cultural institutions--and those, such as Robert Dahl, who asserted that the organization of elites in American society was pluralistic. According to the latter view, elites were not one single coordinated organization dominating society, but were many groups of diverse origin competing for positions of power and prestige. The so-called pluralists asserted the fulfillment of democratic ideals in practice. Since the mid-1970s, theories on elites again have been concerned with the historic role of the state in guiding modern societies and the participation of various kinds of elite groups in the process of government. Rather than emphasizing the forms and social composition of elite groups and their impact on society, however, current research has focused on the culture, ideologies, life styles, and outlooks of elites. It thus points to more subtle, indirect ways in which elites affect society through their involvements with routine affairs of state and the making of policy. While retaining some of the ideas of Pareto and Mosca, current studies have been influenced more by theories derived from the work of Karl MARX.
George Marcus
Bibliography: Clarke, H.D., and Czudnowski, M.M., eds., Political Elites in Anglo-American Democracies (1987); Marger, M.N., Elites and Masses, 2d ed. (1987); Mills, C. Wright, The Power Elite (1956); Marcus, G. E., Elites: Ethnographic Issues (1983); Standworth, P., and Giddens, A., eds., Elites and Power in British Society (1974).
(da: Grolier Electronic Publishing)
Etichette: corso
posted by RTD at 09:22
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