Social Factors that Determine the Emergence of, the Access to and the Maintenance of Elites
E-Book, Englisch, 28 Seiten
ISBN: 978-3-346-35768-7
Verlag: GRIN Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Kein
Everyone has heard the term “elite” before. But very few know what it means or who exactly it refers to. Defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, the "elite" are "those people or organizations that are considered the best or most powerful compared to others of a similar type". But what makes them "the best" or "most powerful"and how do they get into this privileged position? In our democratic society, it is assumed that education, performance and success are decisive for advancing one to an elite position. Allegedly, anyone can ascend to a privileged elite position. Open access to the elites is one of the central norms of a representative democracy.
The author will therefore start with a small historical and theoretical background to the term "elites"itself, since it is often unclear what is meant by elites. Indeed, the term can be used in different ways and with different meanings, as we will see. This is followed by Mosca’s classical elite theory. Unfortunately, due to the limited scope of the work, he has to cut back on the classics of elite theories. However, in terms of the content of Mosca’s theory to the other classics, such as Pareto and Michels, they hardly differ.
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