« Elite theory is a little more than a thinking-man's conspiracy theory » : do you agree?

Résumé du document

Among the various theories of statecraft, the elite theory claims that the power is withheld by a minority of the society, the ruling class or power elite. This expression of "power elite" implies that this elite is not only the group entitled with policy-making, but more accurately the people who truly influence and affect the power. The question of the definition of the elites arises thus from these remarks. Is the elite a social class in the sense of a group defined by its wealth or is the criteria different? According to Mike Savage and Karel Williams, this criteria of definition of the elite is the one of power: "those who have a formal relationship to power in one of the established political or sociological usages of that term". The elite theory includes the existence of an elite, but it does not necessarily argue that such repartition of the power is suitable or not, and therefore the normative views within this theory are diverse. However, the elite theory has long bee criticized for its degree of affirmation, in other words, for its assumption that the elite exists, but failing to provide the necessary information on how it emerged and how it uses the power that it is entitled with.

Extraits

[...] What is more, other theorists have developed the idea of a reproduction of the elites, which can also give the impression that the existence and membership of the elite is inevitable. For example, Mosca argues that the elite become hereditary over the time through the transfer of wealth and education. Bourdieu also makes the case for the reproduction of the ruling class, especially because of education and the “habitus”. This notion of reproduction raises the question of the fatality of the elite, which could also be considered as a conspiracional point. [...]

[...] To conclude, the idea of the existence of elite is very common in the popular thought. For that reason, and because of the lack of unified normative position in the elite theory, different views are expressed. The same phenomenon occurs with conspiracy theories, which are very present in popular imagination, especially in the United States for example. However, the elite theory is much more than a simple conspiracy theory in the sense that it was able to overcome its scientific difficulties and to present a plausible theory of the repartition of power. [...]

[...] But can we really say that elite theory is little more than a thinking man's conspiracy theory?” In order to answer this question, it is then necessary to briefly define the concept of a conspiracy theory. In fact, it is self-explanatory through its terminology, as the definition of the verb conspire” states that it is jointly make secret plans to commit a wrongful As far as the relation between conspiracism and the elite theory is concerned, it is argued that the ruling class does not act in the general interest, but rather with the goal of maintaining its condition. [...]

[...] However, the elite theory is ontologically and normatively much more than a conspiracy theory The British elite as the result of a historical process rather than an inevitable fact Indeed, the emergence of elite has no link with the notion of fatality. As far as the English case is concerned, the appearance of the elite was the result of a historic process. This process begins with what Edward Thompson calls Revolution which did not happen in England”[3] and which he considers as important to understand England as the French Revolution to understand France. [...]

[...] In fact, the study of elite theory in the light of conspiracy theory sets the debate of structure against agent. And was is implied here is that conspiracy theories, just as classical elite theory, focus mainly on the psychological mechanisms and functioning of the system, without giving importance to the structure. This leads evidently more to a conspiracional analysis of power, as it is seen as depending from what the individuals use it for, knowing that the people in charge of that power have created a series of networks in their advantage. [...]