Do Ruling Elites Degenerate? American and British Elites Through Pareto's Lens

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2299709
AutoresJohn Higley (The University of Texas at Austin), Jan Pakulski (0000-0003-0597-5547, University of Tasmania)
Año2011
Volumen10
Número6
Páginas949-967
Fecha de publicación2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaComparative Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1569-1322 • E-ISSN: 1569-1330
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/156913311x607647
OpenAlexW2033115800
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas16

Using Machiavelli's metaphors, Vilfredo Pareto theorized that over time psychosocial propensities of ruling elites - manifested by predominant personality traits, mentalities, beliefs, and actions - are those of 'foxes' or 'lions'. Either propensity renders a ruling elite, especially its leaders, prone to bias, closure, and cumulating blunders. This degenerative process leads to a severe economic-political crisis and wide elite circulation, during which groups and persons disposed toward the opposite propensity gain power. Pareto's theory has much intuitive appeal, but its breadth and elasticity, together with the empirically elusive qualities of elites, risk tendentious applications. Taking this risk, we examine what through Pareto's lens appear to be cycles of circulation and degeneration among American and British elites since shortly after World War II

Appeal · Economics · Elite · Pareto principle · Personality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Psychosocial · Sociology · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology