Ruling Class and Power Elite

Hunting and gathering groups might have had limited division of labour and been egalitarian - and some of our mindbrain’s hard wiring might reflect the fact. However, with the evolution of settled agriculture and the various cultural forms that followed, division of labour increased and a gap opened between the haves and the have nots; between the wealthy and the cash strapped; between the powerful and the powerless.

In complex societies the wealthy people exercise power by making and enforcing the rules that shape government. Such systems are called plutocracies and the plutocrats form a ruling elite

There is a tendency for the rich to get richer and  the poor to get poorer. This is possible because some ebullient entrepreneurs take possession of the means of production – land, labour and capital – and keep most of the profit for themselves. This glaring unfairness sprouts social unrest. Groups of people who share the same concerns get organised and make changes. The group is a ‘class’ and their revolutionary endeavours are a ‘class struggle’.

There is a theory that after several class struggles fairness and equity will become the norm and peace and love will rule the planet. But there are several steps between then and now. The various stakeholders have to figure how to interact with each other, have to iron out their various claims, concerns and issues, and have to ensure that their class issues are adopted by the younger generations.

Some groups are more savvy than others and these days there can be increased and widespread participation through social networks. More than ever before the crew of spaceship earth is ready to explore the options and "Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend (could be) the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land." (Mao Tse Tung, 1957)

Such a procedure will quickly refute the intellectually impoverished notion that there is no alternative to neoliberal austerity and free trade. A wide range of ideas will give cultural evolution plenty options when ensuring the survival of the fittest policies and programmes.

This story is rooted in thought patterns from the 1960s which were in turn rooted in earlier phases of thinking. The immediate stimulus was a re-reading of Tom Bottomore (1964) Elites and Society. At the time there were definitional debates which suggested that the traditional ruling class (landed aristocracy) was a spent force. And, in the last 50 years, the structure and functions of the increasingly global elites are considerably other than was predicted.

Maybe it is a Scottish Presbyterian thing but I am easily upset by elitist abuse of power.

Two notes in passing.

Tom Bottomore was an acquaintance of Ralph Miliband whose youngest son Ed is now leader of the Labour party.

I am alive and well in a vibrantly political Scotland where the shortcomings of representative government are pushed hard in our face by the Westminster establishment and there is a lively and high quality mass of useful stuff pumping through the social networks which are funded by crowd sourcing which ensures that cream rises.