Explain pareto's theory of circulation of elites
Answers
Pareto’s treatment of the circulation of elites is often cited and is generally considered the most interesting part of his sociology. Pareto believed that individuals are born with quite different abilities and acquire quite different skills and aptitudes.
According to Pareto, since in every society there are classes, therefore each society is heterogeneous. Such a heterogeneity takes place on account of mental, moral, physical and cultural reasons but helps in maintaining social balance and organisation. According to Pareto, people are unequal physically, as well as intellectually and morally.
Some people are more gifted than others. Pareto says, those who are most capable in any particular grouping are the elite. The term elite denote simply, “a class of the people who have the highest indices in their branch of activity.”
According to Pareto, “By elite, we mean the small number of individuals who, in each sphere of activity, have succeeded and have arrived at a higher echelon in the professional hierarchy.” Examples are the successful businessmen, artists, successful writers, professors etc.
Pareto further divided the elite class into two categories:
1. A governing elite
2. A non-governing elite
According to Pareto, there can be also a circulation of elites in the sense of being a process by which individuals circulate between the elite and the non-elite. This process of replacement takes place in two ways. It is either by a gradual process of infiltration or by a violent revolution. According to Pareto the elites not only change within or amongst their own classes, they also do so across the classes. A few individuals may join the ranks of elites from the non-elite groups. And a few elites may become non-elite members of society. The theory of elite is that in every society there are “people who possess in a marked degree the qualities of intelligence, character, skill, capacity, of whatever kind; that there are two kinds of elite: that the two groups are disjunctive at any given time, and that there is an up and down circulation of the elite. But aristocracies with the governing elite at the top, do not last. The Athenian aristocracy of the elite passed away without leaving descendants.