Iron Law Research Articles

The Three Horsemen of Riches: Plague, War, and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe

How did Europe escape the “Iron Law of Wages?” We construct a simple Malthusian model with two sectors and multiple steady states, and use it to explain why European per capita incomes and urbanization rates increased during the period 1350–1700. Productivity growth can only explain a small fraction of the rise in output per capita. Population dynamics—changes of the birth and death schedules—were far more important determinants of steady states. We show how a major shock to population can trigger a transition to a new steady state with higher per-capita income. The Black Death was such a shock, raising wages substantially. Because of Engel’s Law, demand for urban products increased, and urban centers grew in size. European cities were unhealthy, and rising urbanization pushed up aggregate death rates. This effect was reinforced by diseases spread through war, financed by higher tax revenues. In addition, rising trade also spread diseases. In this way higher wages themselves reduced population pressure. We show in a calibration exercise that our model can account for the sustained rise in European urbanization as well as permanently higher per capita incomes in 1700, without technological change. Wars contributed importantly to the “Rise of Europe”, even if they had negative short-run effects. We thus trace Europe’s precocious rise to economic riches to interactions of the plague shock with the belligerent political environment and the nature of cities.

Smoking initiation and the iron law of demand

We show, with three longitudinal datasets, that cigarette taxes and prices affect smoking initiation decisions. Evidence from longitudinal studies is mixed but generally find that initiation does not vary with price or tax. We show that the lack of statistical significance partly results because of limited policy variation in the time periods studied, truncated behavioral windows, or mis-assignment of price and tax rates in retrospective data (which occurs when one has no information about respondents’ prior state or region of residence). Our findings highlight issues relevant to initiation behavior generally, particularly those for which individuals’ responses to policy changes may be noisy or small in magnitude.

Now We Are Almost Fifty! Reflections on a Theory of the Transformation of Social Movement Organizations

In 1963, Roberta Ash (now Garner) was a young graduate student taking a seminar on social movements led by Mayer Zald and the late David Street. There were five students in the class. Several times during the quarter Zald led discussions of the many directions that the transformation of a social movement organization (SMO) could take. Much of the discussion focused upon the limits of the Weber-Michels model, which posited the bureaucratizing and oligarchic tendencies of SMOs, summarized as “the iron law of oligarchy.” The basic framework for discussion was provided by Selznick’s open system approach to organizations. Both internal and external sources of pressures to change were examined. Under specific conditions SMOs could vanish, decline, grow, split or merge with other SMOs, and become more radical and/ or develop internal democracy. The students were given a choice of writing a paper or taking a final examination. Considering herself lazy, Garner chose to take a final exam. She was asked to state three or four propositions that were suggested by the class discussions and justify them. When Zald read her answer he immediately thought they could write a paper on the topic. Since then we have collaborated on one other paper, “The Political Economy of the Social Movement Sector” (Garner and Zald, 1985). Although we both have continued to write about topics related to collective action and social movements, our interests and emphases have diverged. Thus, rather than developing a single response to Arne Kalleberg’s invitation we have decided to provide a conversation between ourselves that responds to the questions he raised in his letter of invitation. Garner begins the conversation.

The negation of power: from structuration theory to the politics of the Third Way

In the last two decades Europe witnessed a despairing zeitgeist. Neo-liberalism lived its golden age and dictated its iron laws. Right-wing populism had come to stay. What had gone wrong with left-wing politics? At one with Chantal Mouffe, we claim that the programmatic turn of social democracy towards the Third Way has been fateful. We theoretically query the Third Way by analyzing the work of its perhaps foremost intellectual, Anthony Giddens. We trace the evolution of Giddens' thought from his theory of structuration over his vision of modernity to the formulation of the politics of the Third Way and disclose a tight connection between social theory and political project. While in Giddens' view human agency functions as the major source of social change, he disregards collective forms of contestation as unrealistic. This holds even more under modern conditions, where immanent possibilities of emancipation have been rendered possible and where the task of politics consists in ameliorating the individual's self-fulfillment by governing the almost unsteerable modern world. From here it is but a small step to Third Way politics. Giddens regards the latter as the form of rational governance which is due to replace the outdated quarrels over the good society. Whereas in our article we come to terms with some of Giddens' insights, it is on the whole at odds with both his theoretical and political endeavors. In this vein, in our discussion we flesh out an alternative vision of power and politics, utterly committed to radical democracy. Albeit the utopian moment is not to be found in this framework either, at least it remains an ever-present horizon.

Conflict and Cooperation in the Global Arena: A Historical Perspective of Nigeria-France Relations, 1905-1985

This article reviews the periods of crises and rapprochement in Nigeria’s relations with France. The historical landmarks in their diplomatic ties are suggestive of the iron laws that govern international relations. These laws favour the strong and sanction the weak. France’s pre-eminent status in the international arena during this period, 1905-1985 dwarfed Nigeria’s voice and actions and ensured that Nigeria pandered to the whims and caprices of France. The paper suggests ways in which the Nigerian government and indeed Africa can checkmate France’s influence on the continent, eliminate tension in their relations on the long run and also engender accommodation and mutual respect between Nigeria and France

Choosing a Rhetoric of the Enemy: Kenneth Burke's Comic Frame, Warrantable Outrage, and the Problem of Scapegoating

Kenneth Burke's dramatistic theory of rhetoric presents a significant tension between an “Iron Law of History” and a “comic” attitude. Comic framing in ironic awareness of one's own shortcomings in a conflict, as well as those of one's opponent, moderates aggression but also appears to dissolve the ground for the identification and censure of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, this did not prevent Burke from engaging in the censure of wrongdoing. Although Burke does not explicitly and adequately counter the apparent inconsistency, he implicitly provides a meta-perspective advancing a possible resolution. Forceful scapegoating of scapegoating itself, through comic irony and double-visioned analysis, can guide, in serial progression, warfare and redemptive reunion. Wartime speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt illustrate the larger comic framing inherent in a rhetorical movement from “factional tragedy” to “comic” regard and reconciliation.

The rationalization of civil society

Two ideas are almost universally accepted as reality in political sociology. One is that numbers are declining in nearly all membership associations. The usual interpretation of this phenomenon is that it occurs because of individualization. The other is that the character of collective action has changed. This idea, which stems from Touraine, Melucci and Castells, states that a new historical category of social action has emerged, one that resembles action in primary groups rather than in organizations and in some way is a victory over the iron law of oligarchy. This article questions both ideas. The author intends to show that another historical process is in play here, namely, a process of ‘inert rationalization’ in social movements, political parties and associations, which is taking place in Europe with different starting points and at different tempos. The result of this process can be summed up as ‘more organization with fewer people’. Domination, inherent in oligarchic organizations, is being transformed by the creation of a new organizational boundary between elite (or profession) and members. The point is that it is membership itself as a form for affiliation that is disappearing, not just members. The article argues that this is mainly because resource mobilization patterns have historically changed from the mobilization of resources drawn from members to the mobilization of resources drawn from other organizations. Finally, the article analyses the importance of the unstructured power fields (or open spaces) created by rationalization processes for social innovation and new social movements.

Let’s Leave the Bias to the Mainstream Media: A Wikipedia Community Fighting for Information Neutrality

Let’s Leave the Bias to the Mainstream Media: A Wikipedia Community Fighting for Information Neutrality

The Revival of Group Voting: Explaining the Voting Preferences of Immigrants in Norway

Studies of the electoral behaviour of immigrants in Western Europe and North America have revealed a remarkably coherent cross-national voting pattern. Immigrants from the non-Western world hold a strong preference for left-of-centre parties. This unusual expression of group voting is so stable over time that it has been referred to as an ‘iron law’. There is, however, a dearth of scholarly research on this phenomenon. This article tests two explanations for the left-of-centre preferences of immigrants in Norway. The first is that the ideological and socio-economic composition of the immigrant electorate explains the preference for left-of-centre parties. If so, these voters' ethnic or immigrant background is not in itself decisive on Election Day. The second hypothesis is that immigrant voters engage in group voting, in which one's ethnic or immigrant background is significant and trumps other concerns when voting. This would express itself in a coherent voting pattern that cannot be explained by other factors. We also expect those who engage in group voting to favour candidates with similar ethnic backgrounds as themselves. The group voting hypothesis finds the strongest support. The immigrant vote appears to be driven by group adherence, rather than by ideology or social background.

Development, poverty, and basic human needs : some issues

Cross-national data seem to support the hypothesis that as development proceeds, income inequality worsens before it improves. However, this is not an iron law of development, as is evident from the variations in the performances of different countries. Evidence concerning the relationship between GNP growth and absolute poverty is mixed; poverty has been significantly reduced in some, but not in other rapidly growing countries. A shift of development policy to the provision of basic needs to target groups through selective interventions in the production and distribution processes appears to be based upon flawed reasoning. The same institutional bottlenecks that prevent the benefits of growth from reaching the poor persist regardless of development policy. Therefore, growth policies should be supplemented by strategies directed toward better distribution of the growth benefits and experimentation with alternative delivery systems. An understanding of the sociopolitical characteristics of the development process is the basis of a framework for defining and evaluating alternative development strategies for poverty alleviation. 25 references.

Seymour Martin Lipset and political sociology1

Seymour Martin Lipset and political sociology¹

The British Journal of Sociology in the 1950s: firm foundations

The 1950s was the BJS's first decade and, understandably, the papers which appeared during this period come closest to representing what the founding editors expected when they established it. The most striking feature I observed when I surveyed the full range of articles published during this period was how many would not now be defined as sociological, nor as having been written by sociologists. There are historians covering social history, such as Ivy Pinchbeck, one of the few women and a frequent contributor; anthropologists, Lucy Mair and Meyer Fortes, for example appear, as do psychologists, even the controversial H. J. Eysenck and Cyril Burt. Social policy issues occur often, with Titmuss, Townsend, Young and Timms all writing for the Journal. This was, of course, the original intention of both the LSE and the agreed manifesto quoted in the introduction to this volume: to include a very wide range of subjects and to stretch the boundaries of the discipline. The sociological mix was remarkably eclectic: the BJS attracted big names from its earliest days: Parsons is here, as are Myrdal, Goffman, Aron, Wirth and Merton. There is a clear international and comparative dimension, as the list just cited shows. I was surprised not to find more examples of studies of social and educational mobility, one of the major intellectual preoccupations of the day and one in which Glass, who had joined Ginsberg and Marshall on the editorial team, was most heavily involved. There are a number of papers by Glass, Floud and Halsey. Indeed, Glass himself published quite often in the BJS, as did his fellow editors, something that would be frowned upon today. In trying to choose just two articles to represent the 1950s, I decided to confine my search for suitable articles from this period to those which could be defined as sociological, though in doing so I realized that this leaves out a range of interesting material and runs counter to the intention of the Journal's founders. Eventually I settled on two very different papers by scholars in their earlier years who went on to become major figures. In these pieces, each sets out his key ideas and findings on themes which were to have significant impact on sociology. Lipset's article is one of the first occasions on which he presented this material and argued his challenge to Michels' ‘iron law of oligarchy’ and, as Mcgovern notes below, it ‘bears all the hallmarks of the work that would . . . make him a giant of political sociology’ (McGovern 2010: 29). Lipset's‘Democracy in Private Government’ appeared in one of the first volumes of the 1950s, Bernstein's towards its end, yet they have in common a path-breaking impact while their themes could not be more different. Bernstein had, as the commentaries below stress, a major influence both on sociology and educational policy, while Lipset influenced trade union studies and political science. One reason for choosing Lipset was to illustrate how seriously the BJS took its commitment to being an international and comparative journal from the beginning. Bernstein is here at least partly because his article demonstrates that the BJS has always published groundbreaking work which challenges the discipline. As noted in the introduction to this volume, few women authors appear in the Journal's early years. A very small number of papers, some by male sociologists, deal with what we would now see as a gendered agenda, albeit in a pre-feminist fashion. One tantalizing item is Young's 1952 discussion of the income distribution within the family between husband and wife; he sets out the kind of concerns about gender inequality which were to stimulate generations of feminists in social policy many years later, but there is no evidence that he, or anyone else, took this further at this stage. Lipset and Bernstein are lively writers, deeply engaged with their subjects and with the complexities of both their methodologies and their relevance. Modern sociologists can still read them with benefit. In doing so, they can ponder what their meaning is for us now and be grateful to our sociological forbears for their ambition.

The young Lipset on the iron law of oligarchy: a taste of things to come1

Lipset's 'Democracy in Private Government' was a remarkable publication for three reasons. It was his first attempt to challenge Michels' 'iron law of oligarchy' and would lead to a programme of research that that would culminate with the publication of the widely admired classic study Union Democracy. Second, the inspiration for this work came from Lipset's student days when he was a socialist activist trying to understand why leftist governments often failed to carry out substantial programmes of social reform. Third, although it was one of his earliest publications it bears all the hallmarks of the work that would subsequently make Lipset a giant of political sociology: the enthusiasm for classic sociological problems; the appreciation of history; and the ingenious use of the small n comparative approach. Finally, I would argue that Lipset's study of democracy within private government represents a missed opportunity for sociology though there are signs that this is being rectified in recent years.

Power, politics and the Turkish labour union elite

In the context of the EU–Turkey negotiations, the role of the social partners in Turkey’s gains importance but basic knowledge about these partners is lacking. This research tries first to draw a socio-demographic picture of the Turkish labour elite in the light of R. Michels “iron law of oligarchy”. Second, the relations between Turkish labour confederations and the political parties are researched. The results of the research confirm Michels’ (1915) theory partly. We observe a maturation of the confederations and an institutionalization of power. We also observe differences in professionalization of the elites. But the sector seems to be a more important factor in explaining the differences. Next, the research confirms roughly the traditional relations between parties and confederations. Turk-Is would be most aligned to CHP, Hak-Is to AKP, DISK to numerous parties of the left. For the public sector, KESK seems to be closely aligned to ODP and BDP, Kamu-Sen to MHP and Memur-Sen to SP and AKP.

Revitalizing Union Democracy: Labor Law, Bureaucracy, and Workplace Association

Do core doctrines of labor-relations law obstruct the internal democratic governance of labor unions in the United States? Union democracy is likely an essential precondition for the broader strategic and organizational changes unions must undertake in order to recruit new union members — the labor movement’s cardinal priority. Yet according to widely accepted wisdom, the weakness of democracy within labor unions is the unavoidable outcome of an “iron law of oligarchy” that operates in all such membership-based organizations. This Article challenges this conventional thinking and argues that the triumph of oligarchy over democracy in US labor unions is not inevitable, but conditioned on the nature of American labor law. The main message is that labor law will directly or indirectly undermine what I call “workplace association,” a decisive strategic component in the florescence of union democracy, when, as in the US, it (1) provides for exclusive representation, (2) establishes institutions and procedures for collective bargaining, and (3) inhibits the use of economic “self help” as alternatives to such procedures. To reach this conclusion, the Article develops a game-theoretic model of union democratization, formalized in the Appendix, that highlights the role of union bureaucracy and workplace association in the success or failure of union democracy. The Article then uses the model to analyze the impact of US labor law on this game of union democracy, and makes comparison to Great Britain, where labor law has contrasted dramatically, with equally divergent results for union democracy.

The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Understanding the Conflict Beyond the Iron Law of Terrorism

The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Understanding the Conflict Beyond the Iron Law of Terrorism

Governance, Organization, and Democracy on the Internet: The Iron Law and the Evolution of Wikipedia

This study examines whether the Iron Law of Oligarchy exists in Wikipedia by analyzing how a key policy of the website regarding verifiability evolved into its current form. The study describes the decision‐making processes of Wikipedia and shows that there are many factors preventing or slowing the development of oligarchy on Wikipedia. The study provides data advancing theoretical concepts related to the Iron Law of Oligarchy and the evolution of virtual communities and organizations; results and knowledge gained can also improve Wikipedia policies related to verifiability. Michels wrote: “who says organization, says oligarchy.” I argue that we should follow this with a caveat: “who says wiki‐organization, says no to oligarchy.”

Serbia’s parties on the mend? That state of intra-party democracy in before and after regime change

Has the onset of democracy in Serbia facilitated the democratization of the country’s main political parties? By most accounts, the answer is no. Robert Michels’ ‘iron law of oligarchy’ thus appears all too relevant in a Serbian context. This paper seeks to understand whether and to what extent this remains the case in a post-Milosevic context. Have Serbia’s political parties evolved organizationally since the early 1990s? Are parties’ organizational structures uniformly undemocratic or do differences exist with respect to different parties? To answer these questions this paper relies on domestic media coverage, interview with party members, as well as party statutes.

Condemned to repeat it: lessons of history and making of U.S. Cold War containment policy

Chapter 1 Metternich, Bismarck, and the Myth of the Nineteenth-Century Long Peace Chapter 2 The Myth of the Versailles Treaty and the Origins of World War II Chapter 3 Munich: The Iron Law of Diplomacy Chapter 4 The Real Meaning of Yalta Chapter 5 U.S. Containment Policy and the Second Long Peace Chapter 6 Reagan, Star Wars, and the Fall of Communism Chapter 7 The Containment Myths and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century

Iron Law and Colonial Desire: Legality and Criminality in Paton's Too Late the Phalarope

Summary Too Late the Phalarope [1955]1971 provides an occasion to reflect on the relationship between colonialism, law and criminality. I argue that Paton indicts Afrikaner Christian nationalism by dramatising a paradox inherent in it. Afrikaner nationalism's uncompromisingly strict legality – both the normativity that regulates the behaviour of members of the Afrikaner community, and the strict enforcement of these norms – renders its members vulnerable to that which the community disavows and criminalises in the Immorality Act: the libidinal attraction to the Other manufactured by colonialism's “desiring machine”. Moreover, by producing the conditions under which the “colonial desire” of the colonised – the desire for continued survival – cannot lawfully be fulfilled, colonial law is responsible for the criminality of the colonised.