Elitist Critique

Question 1

C.Wright Mills

Answer 1

Society controlled by tripartite power elite based on military industrial complex (government, military and industry) - Largely free from electoral pressure
Elite controlled hierarchies and organisations and unelected bodies such as mmilitary

Question 2

Mosca & Pareto

Answer 2

Elites rule in democracies through a combination of force and cunning (lions and foxes)

Question 3

Michels

Answer 3

‘elite rule followed from the iron law of oligarchy’ – It is in the nature of all organizations, however democratic they may appear, for power to concentrate in the hands of a small group of dominant figures.

Question 4

Schumpeter

Answer 4

Theory of democratic realism - The electorate can decide which elite rules, but cannot change the fact that the power is always exercised by an elite

Question 5

Burnham

Answer 5

‘Managerial class’ dominates all industrial societies by virtue of its technical and scientific ability

Question 6

Orwellian view

Answer 6

‘Some pressure groups are more equal than others’