Elites in the Political System

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Lecture 5:   
Elites in the Political System

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An elite in political theory, is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth or political power.

 

• A. Importance of Political Elites
• B. Finding Political Elites
• C. Background Characteristics: Elites and the Social Structure
• D. Elite Recruitment and Elite Socialization
• E. Elite-Mass Relations
• F. Elite Transformations

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A. Why are Elites Important?

 

• they have more power, more control over allocation of resources than ordinary citizens
• play a role in ruling, keep system stable,
• key decision makers on policy issues.

 

 

 

 

POWER IS INEQUITABLY DISTRIBUTED IN POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND USUALLY IN INVERSE PROPORTION TO THE POPULATION

 

power

 

population

 

(see blow up)

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Distributions of Population and  Power: In inverse relationship

 

Elites

 

Middle

 

Masses

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B. How to find the Elites?  Positions, Reputations or Decisions

 

The research strategy to find elites  affects the view of how power is  distributed in society

We are interested in political, economic,  administrative, and media elites

1. Positional or Institutional Method

• select major political, military, business and media institutions
• assumes that people in public positions are most powerful.
• misses behind the scenes power brokers (hou tai後台)

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2. Reputational -- informal reputations for  power

• ask people who they think are the most powerful
• ask leaders who they ask for advice
• finds powerful who may already have retired, people with informal power

 

3. Decisional analysis -- supports the  "Pluralist model of politics"

• pick a specific policy decision and see who had influence on decision making process
• tends to give more influence to ordinary citizens who get involved
• even when used for socialist systems, can find role for citizens
• draws picture of power as widely distributed within society
• may miss the "Second Face of Power"--the ability to block decisions from occurring

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C. Background Characteristics: Elites  and the Social Structure

 

HOW REPRESENTATIVE IS ELITE OF SOCIETY?

 

• the more representative the elite, the more they give citizens what they want, the more stable the political system.
• others argue for elitist system--educated lead society
• concerns that lower classes fall prey to parochial values

 

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1. Social Class -- political elites  disproportionately drawn from upper classes

• true for political, bureaucratic and business elite
• relates to question of how open political system is to the lower levels of society.)

 

2. Role of Education:

• Elites are much more educated than general population
• You need education to enter elite but members of elite have easier access to institutes of higher education.
• in some societies, access to education highly restricted.

 

Education

 

High Social Status

 

Elite Membership

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3. "Law of Increasing Disproportion"

• Access to elite is denied to women and ethnic minorities
• in almost all political systems, the higher one goes, the more white males (or black males) dominate
• need "affirmative action" to overcome natural tendencies towards this process.

 

4.  «Integration of Elites"

• people with one kind of resource more likely to get access to other types.
• people convert social and economic resources into political resources
• higher levels of education and social stauts lead to higher levels of participation which gives higher levels of political power.
• particularly true for non-democratic systems

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D. Elite Recruitment and Elite  Socialization

 

HOW DO PEOPLE GET TO BE MEMBERS  OF THE ELITE?

1. Elite Recruitment Channels

• all societies have key channels through which people can enter elite
• major channels include universities, military, personal networks, youth organizations, political parties, religious institutions
• opening and closing of recruitment channels can affect "political generations"

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WHO CONTROLS HOW THEY GET THERE?

2. Political Selectorates

• all channels are controlled by selectorates who decide who will get in.
• in socialist systems "Nomenklatura system" (list of names or posts)
• democratic systems: transition teams, elections, party leaders, university professors

 

SO WHAT? 

3. Important Impact on Socialization and  Values of Elites

• channels and selectorates affect type of people who enter elite and their values
• systems tend to exclude people with different views from dominant norms
• people will change their views to get into the elite
• if no new blood, few new ideas, systems can stagnate
• political generations can limit new recruits by filling up spots.

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E. ELITE-MASS LINKAGES: How do  elites and citizens interact?

 

1. HOW CAN CITIZENS AFFECT ELITE BEHAVIOR?

• participation as major way to articulate interests to elite
• Elections force elites to listen anticipating that they will be punished if they don't
• problem of politicians who are only ambitious but have no values
• "exit, voice, or loyalty"--three options from the marketplace
• different methods for sending messages in different systems
• public opinion polls, letters to editors, big character posters, protest marches

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2. HOW CAN ELITES AFFECT CITIZENS?

• three types of incentives: moral, material, and coercive

 

• a. Moral: 
• Socialization, propaganda, manipulation of political symbols
• Weber's charismatic authority
• important for promoting legitimacy
• Chinese culture and Maoism highly dependent on moral examples

 

• b. Coercive:
• hard to maintain for a long time, very expensive in terms of legitimacy
• creates backlash from society, very destabilizing in long term
• empowers coercive institutions of state--police, army
• Can have mix of moral and coercive under socialism

 

• c. Material Incentives: 
• creates elitist system as politicians likely to get majority of benefits

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F. ELITE TRANSFORMATION

 

1. LONG WAVES:

• a. Industrialization--rise of industrial class or working class elites to challenge aristocracy
• in England, aristocracy held power longer than economic power would have predicted.
• b. Modernization theory: Need for technical elites leads to technocracy

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SHORTER WAVES:

• a. Revolution: sudden, violent overthrow of ruling class
• extermination of an entire social class creates major opportunities for new elites
• but values of old society may persist
• b. Major changes in recruitment channels
• breakdown of established institutions allows new people to enter elite

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONARY ELITES

• a. Aging of revolutionary elites
• young tend to make revolution and then stay in powe till death.
• true for all authoritarian regimes, African one-party states and socialist states
• b. From ideologues to technocrats
• revolutions need ideologues to justify change, mobilize popular opinion
• after revolution system modernizes--need for more technical leaders.

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DO NEW LEADERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

• YES, for both capitalist/democratic and socialist systems
• initial change of leaders allows them to reallocate economic resources
• new ideas come through campaigns, politicians respond once elected
• new leaders have their own ideas
• almost every change in socialist elites led to totally new policies