What, according to Pareto, are the basic characteristics of elites? Discuss. (UPSC CSE Mains 2018 - Sociology, Paper 1)
- Vilfredo Pareto firmly believed that human beings are unequal physically, as well as mentally and morally. In all social groups there are some people who are far more intelligent and capable than others. It is these people who become the elite in any social group or society as a whole. Pareto defined elite as “a class of the people who have the highest indices (or scores) in their branch of activity” .
- He distinguished between the governing elites and the non-governing elites. Both these belong to the class of elites. However, the governing elites are those individuals who directly or indirectly play an important part in the government, while the non-governing elites comprise the rest of the elite population. In his work, Vilfredo Pareto has focused his attention more on governing elites.
- In spite of defining elites as the most intelligent and capable people in a society, Vilfredo Pareto has many times failed to distinguish between elites who inherit their status due to inheritance of wealth, good connections, etc. and those who achieve their elite status on the basis of their merits. However, Pareto is clear about the fact that in cases where the majority of the elites occupy their status not due to their own achievements but due to their ascribed status, the society becomes degenerate. It is replaced by elites who have the first kind of residue, that is, instinct for combination. The new elites have vitality and imaginativeness which is lacking in the elites who derive their elite status on the basis of ascription.
- Thus, according to Vilfredo Pareto it is not only the intelligence and capability but also the residue of class I that affects society. The ideal governing elite must have a mixture of residues of class I and class II kinds (class II stands for group persistence) for its proper functioning. These two residues correspond to two different types of individuals – the lions and the foxes. In this way Vilfredo Pareto’s concept of circulation of elites is also related to his distinction between two types of human beings, the lions and the foxes. Pareto borrowed these concepts from Machiavelli.
- The lions have the class II type of residue. They are conservative in ideas and represent social inertia i.e., the element of stability, persistence in societies. Such type of individual harbour strong feelings of loyalty to family, tribe, city, nation etc. They reveal in their behaviour class solidarity, patriotism, and religious zeal and are not scared of taking strong action when a need occurs.
- The foxes are characterised by residue of the class I, of instinct for combination. These people are involved in system making, manipulating various elements found in experience, such as in large scale financial manipulations. In other words “foxes” are responsible for the changes, experiments, innovations in society. They are not conservative and faithful or stable.
- In Paretos’s opinion, the governing elite must have the mixture of lions and foxes for it to form an ideal governing class. He described the political system but the same rule follows for the economic system as well. In the ideal economic system a mixture of “speculators” who are foxes in this situation and “rentiers” who are the lions, is required. In society both lions capable of decisive and forceful action, as well as, foxes imaginative, innovative, and unscrupulous are needed.
- Thus, in his theory of circulation of elites, from lions to foxes and viceversa, Vilfredo Pareto has given a theory of social change. His theory of change is cyclical in nature. It is not linear like Marx’s theory in which the process ends with the coming of a communist society. In Pareto’s views all societies move from one state to another in a cyclical manner, with no beginning or end.
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