Social Stratification and Political Elite

Abstract

tN THE STUDY of social stratification, in its practical as well as | its theoretical aspects, the position of the political elite has been Xcuriously neglected.2 BThile societies have been analysed in terms of income, occupation, prestige and social class, little attention has been paid to the distribution of power in general or to the position of political leadership.3 Students of social mobility have, of course, investigated the recruitment to certain high-ranking strata of society but have tended on the whole to pay little attention to the movement into or from the ruling political groups. Political scientists on the other hand, have studied the social background of legislators and administrators 4 and have tried to relate political decisions to the interests represented by those making them, but they have generally been concerned with specific political elites at a particular point of time, orn at the bestn over a certain period.5 There has been little in the utay of a systematic study of changing political elites vithin the framework of a changing social structure. It is the purpose of this paper to relate the political elite in modern democratic societies to the system of social stratification and to assess the factors which determine mobilitnt into the political elite. This is of more than theoretical significance. On the assumption that a democratic society benefits by free social mobilitr into the political elite it is important to understand those elements in the structure which might mitigate against such mobility. SIoreover an insight into social mobility in respect of political elites should help towards our understanding of social stratification and social mobility in general. Finally, to see the political elite within the social structure and its changing place within it over a period of time is important in order to assess the significance of the political elite vis-a-vis other ruling strata.