Page 26 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

12 Changing Definitions of Politics and Power

Michels took the concentration of power in the hands of an elite to be
a necessary outcome of complex organizations. He is responsible for the
emphasis in empirical political sociology on analyzing the dynamics of
party politics. His famous “ iron law of oligarchy ” states that, in modern
societies, parties need to be highly organized and so, inevitably, become
oligarchic, being hierarchically run by party leaders and bureaucracy such
that the bulk of members are excluded from decision - making (Michels,
1962 ). Michels was critical of this process, although he saw it as tragically
inevitable. As a socialist, he was disappointed that socialist parties would
be unable to realize their democratic ideals, unlike Weber and Schumpeter
for whom bureaucratic and hierarchical parties are the only means by
which political leadership in large - scale societies can emerge (Scott, 1996a :
317 – 18).
Developing Michels ’ s thesis, Schumpeter saw democracy as nothing but
competition between political parties whose elite members deal in votes,
just as businessmen deal in commodities. It does not, and should not,
mean rule by the people; it is rather a method for arriving at political
decisions by means of a competitive struggle for the people ’ s vote. Once
elected, professional politicians must be allowed to rule, assisted by a
strong, independent bureaucracy of expert administrators, since the stabil-
ity of the political system requires respect for the judgment of elected
representatives (Schumpeter, 1943 ).
A radical version of Weberian elite theory is the institutional elite
theory proposed by C. W. Mills. In Mills ’ s view, the elitism of the US in
the twentieth century is a serious hindrance to democracy rather than the
factor that makes it possible and viable. As he sees it, power has become
concentrated and unified in the elites of three institutions in the US: the

military, the corporate, and the political; the connections between them
having been strengthened by the growth of a permanent war establish-
ment in a privatized incorporated economy since World War II. This
concentration, combined with the one - way communication of the mass
media as it is organized by elites, makes ordinary citizens ignorant and
rather complacent, although fitfully miserable, about the extent to which

they lack control over their lives (Mills, 1956 ).
Mills ’ s argument is similar to that of Marxist elite theorists, notably
Ralph Miliband, for whom the capitalist class assures its reproduction by
means of the close links it enjoys with the leaders of such powerful insti-
tutions as political parties, the civil service, the media, and the military
(Miliband, 1969 ). They differ, however, in that Mills refuses to see the

power elite as necessarily unified by virtue of its economic class position
and social background, arguing that the shared interests and perspectives