Societal Elites Research Articles

Revisiting the Spheres of Public Discussion

When societal elites seem to be in consensus about a political issue, journalism traditionally takes on a more conservative role in organising public discussion. For an issue to become controversial in mainstream media, a crisis of some kind is often needed, followed by lack of consensus among the different elites. This article uses coverage of globalisation in Finland’s most influential newspaper to see if the theory of the spheres of public discussion can be applied to a particular journalistic culture. The model is used to see how media treat elite and non-elite actors who wish to participate in public discussion. In order to draw conclusions about how the media operate regarding giving voice to dissent or upholding the status quo in society, it is necessary to take into account the historical and social context of the relationship between a country’s media and the state.

From showroom to chat room

Whilst social media like Twitter and Facebook carry with them the potential for the practice of journalism, novelties like these are also associated with adaptation difficulties – perhaps especially when it comes to the interactive capabilities that services like these afford. This study employs a multi-method approach to study the different uses of Twitter and Facebook by one media company – the Swedish public service broadcaster (PSB) Sveriges Television – during the 2014 election year. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data, we find that Twitter was used more extensively and in a comparably more interactive fashion than Facebook. Hence we suggest Twitter, used more for interaction, functions as a ‘chat room’; whilst Facebook, used more for broadcasting messages, can be viewed as functioning like a ‘showroom’. As Twitter is often associated with societal elites in the Swedish context, it raises a question about the suitability for a PSB to engage to such a degree on this particular platform.

Scoping an agenda for future research into the professions

Purpose – This paper is premised on the understanding that professions remain central means of institutionalising expertise in society. A summary of major issues that are prominent in recent studies of the professions is presented in order to inform the paper’s central objective which is to scope out an agenda for future research in the area. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This is a desk-based study informed by, but not limited to, the other papers appearing in this special issue. Findings – This paper identifies and summarises a number of central themes: globalisation and neo-imperialism, the role of the state in professional projects, the rise of tax avoidance as a moral issue, the implications of tax professionals moving from the public to the private sector, the study of small-scale accounting firms, the rise of new expert groups and the emergence and implications of new audit spaces. Research limitations/implications – The value of this paper is in bringing together a number of important but eclectic themes to scope out an agenda for the future study of the accounting profession and expert labour more broadly. The paper questions whether the term profession is still meaningful in a context where many professions have been re-made in the image of commercialism; it suggests that a focus on experts might be more apposite. Originality/value – In scoping out an agenda this paper calls for greater attention to be paid to: examining the role of experts and their role in some of the major crises of the times; exploring how professions have often undermined their own legitimacy; understanding better the relations between professions and the state; the extent to which the next generation of partners will behave very differently to the current incumbents; the way in which digitalisation opens up new vistas of expertise; and in investigating the position of different expert groups in relation to societal elites. The paper reiterates that major societal issues are framed through various forms of expert knowledge and as a corollary it is essential to engage with experts and the implications of their proposed solutions.

Stacked scale frames: building hegemony for fracking across scales

This paper introduces the concept of stacked scale frames and explains how they can legitimate a particular set of interests as general interests. Specifically, it examines how shale gas development proceeded in Pennsylvania, and finds that stacked scale frames were a tool for establishing the legitimacy of fracking. Fracking is a technique for extracting oil and natural gas from shale rock formations using highly pressurised water, sand and chemicals. It has produced dramatic amounts of gas and wealth over the past seven to eight years, but poses risks to the environment and public health that are largely understudied and misunderstood. Previous studies of fracking have explained the rise of fracking in Pennsylvania using analyses of advertisements and corporate promotional materials. This study builds on their work and adds an understanding of the fracking boom seen through the concept of hegemony. The data used in this paper draw from a set of interviews with ‘intellectuals’ in Gramsci's sense of the word: societal elites who mould and shape public opinion. In the case of fracking, these elites included representatives of oil and gas capital, the state, academia, NGOs and civil society living near fracking sites. Overall, the benefits of fracking were recognised by all groups and the costs were less commonly represented. This paper contributes the concept of stacked scale frames to literature on social production of scale in human geography. Stacked scale frames made capitalist economic development appear to benefit a wider section of society spread across multiple scales simultaneously. In contrast, opponents of fracking framed the costs of fracking at individual scales and in a piecemeal fashion. It concludes that anti‐fracking forces, and political ecologists in general, should embrace a critique that draws together social and environmental harms across multiple scales simultaneously.

What Does it Mean to be Part of the Elite?

Whether top bureaucrats are part of the elite or not, and to what degree their possible elite status is legitimate, will depend on how the elite concept is defined. Analyzing 81 British, French and Norwegian top bureaucrats’ arguments for belonging to the elite or not, this paper unpacks the elite concept and explores its meaning along a range of dimensions (organizational, prestige, education, social status, power, wage). These dimensions can be analyzed as indicating either an elite status delimited to the profession or exceeding it, as a societal elite. Rather than what might be expected, a clear contrast between anti-elitist Norwegian and elitist British and French bureaucrats, the comparative analysis of the interviews shows a variation between two different understandings of the elite concept: Norwegians interpret their elite status as delimited to the profession, and British and French bureaucrats define themselves as societal elites.

Shades of Sovereignty: Explaining Political Order and Disorder in Pakistan’s Northwest

How might we understand the maintenance of political order in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas from Pakistani Independence until the mid-2000s, when all the factors used to explain the current insurgency have been present for decades? This article argues that particularistic institutional arrangements between the state and tribal structures—what I call “hybrid governance”—established and maintained political order in the region. It develops a conceptual framework for the creation and maintenance of hybrid governance—where the state explicitly shares coercion with societal elites—as a specific kind of indirect rule. Through archival, documentary, and interview-based research, the article then demonstrates the utility of hybrid governance concept in explaining the establishment and operation of political order, and how the marginalization of the agents of hybrid governance is a major causal factor in the onset of the insurgency. The article concludes with some comparative reflections on the sources of political order outside the state’s monopoly of force.

Freiburg School of Law and Economics, Freiburg (Lehrstuhl-)Tradition and the Genesis of Norms

∗ Abstract: The paper analyzes the parallels and differences between the Freiburg School of Law and Economics represented by the works of Eucken (and Ropke) and the Freiburg (Lehrstuhl-)Tradition represented by the works of Hayek and Vanberg. The parallels are illustrated by making use of the constitutional economics concepts Ordnungspolitik (i.e., order of rules/choices over rules) as well as freedom of privileges and discrimination. The differences, which have received surprisingly little attention, include the following aspects: 1. philosophy of science and epistemology, 2. genesis of norms, and 3. political philosophy. The paper tackles these issues in three steps: The second chapter presents Vanberg's constitutional economics theory with special emphasis on the concepts of citizen sovereignty and normative individualism. The third chapter reviews the ordoliberal concepts of science and the state which are - to a certain degree - elitist and expertocratic, that is, they rely to a considerable degree on intellectual experts (in particular, scientists) and other members of the societal elite. The fourth chapter differentiates two kinds of genesis of norms: an evolutionary one and an elitist-expertocratic one allowing for a differentiation between Eucken's and Ropke's Ordoliberalism(s) on the on the hand and Vanberg's Hayekian- and Buchanan-style constitutional economics approach on the other hand. The paper ends with a summary of the main findings.

The Politicization of European Integration: More than an Elite Affair?

A growing literature in research on the European Union (EU) claims that European integration has become comprehensively politicized in the EU's population. The most convincing evidence for this assertion stems from research on political and societal elites — studies of party manifestos, interest groups' activities, news media reporting and the like. By contrast, evidence on politicization trends in the broader citizenry is much more ambiguous. This article raises the question of whether politicization is more than an elite phenomenon. Based on a differentiated conception of politicization, it analyzes focus groups conducted with EU citizens in four member states. It shows that, for most citizens, only the fundamentals of European integration have gained political saliency, while the EU's day-to-day activities remain largely non-politicized. In addition, patterns of politicization in the European population are conditioned by significant knowledge deficits.

Exposure to the Elite Narrative: Explaining Pakistani Public Opinion and American Drone Attacks

This paper is an analysis of the sources of Pakistani public opinion toward American drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan. An examination of Pakistani opinion toward the drones show two clear patterns: A slim majority of Pakistanis know about the drone strikes but that number is growing over time. Also, those Pakistanis who know about the drone strikes are very opposed to them. We argue that the rather limited knowledge of the drone strikes is not for lack of an elite discourse about drone attacks but because of the relatively low levels of political cognitive mobilization in a population with very low levels of education. But given the almost universal condemnation of drone strikes from all strata of Pakistani political and societal elites, we argue that it is to be expected that those who have absorbed a good deal of information about the strikes will be greatly opposed to the attacks. In other words, in an informational environment such as Pakistan has been for the last few years, to have heard about drone strikes is to have been exposed to nearly unanimous elite criticism of drone strikes with an extremely limited counter-narrative. Thus, we argue that the more a Pakistani has heard of drone strikes in Pakistan, the more likely she is to oppose them. This hypothesis is tested in a Heckman analysis, which confirms our supposition.

A társadalmi tér használata a kecskeméti multifunkcionális elit gyakorlata szerint, 1920–1940

A térbeli fordulattal az utóbbi években előtérbe került a társadalmi tér vizsgálata. Az irányzat adta lehetőségekkel a középkort vagy a kora újkort kutató történészek, történeti földrajzosok sűrűbben élnek, mint más társaik. A modern kor (19. és 20. század) társadalomtörténetével foglalkozó szakemberek látószögébe – legalábbis idehaza – eleddig, néhány fontos kivételtől eltekintve, nem került be a társadalmi tér használatának vizsgálata, holott ehhez lényegesen kedvezőbbek a forrásadottságok. Éppen e forrásbőség lehet az oka, hogy a modern kor kutatói látszólag nincsenek oly mértékben rászorulva ezen módszerek, nézőpontok alkalmazására, mint a sokszor forráshiánnyal küzdő, korábbi korszakok társadalma után nyomozó kollégáik. Jelen tanulmányban arra teszek kísérletet, hogy rámutassak, milyen sokrétűen módosítja a társadalmi tér vizsgálata például azt a képet, amit egy Horthy-kori „mezővárosról” alkottunk.

Equity, Fairness and Justice Implications of Land Tenure Formalization in Cameroon

AbstractThis article examines Cameroon's modern land policy. Initially, it traces the policy's roots to the colonial era. As the only African country that came under the control of three European colonial powers, viz. Germany, Britain and France, Cameroon provides a unique opportunity to understand colonialism's influence on Africa's persistent land problem. This is because the problem is structurally embedded in the historical processes of colonial rule. The heart of the article focuses on the policy's provisions for land tenure formalization, especially the land titling process. Of interest are the implications of this process for questions of equity, fairness and justice as they relate to access to land in the country. It suggests that, contrary to what proponents claim, land tenure formalization is not a panacea enabling capital accumulation for all. The article marshals evidence to show that the land tenure formalization requirements in Cameroon have effectively served to aggravate socioeconomic inequalities in the country. This is especially because the requirements favour societal elites, including bureaucrats, politicians and entrepreneurs. The article concludes that, by making government‐issued land titles the unique testament to landownership, the country's indigenous authorities have aggravated the problem of inequitable, unfair and unjust access to land that they inherited from their colonial predecessors.

Meeting Plato’s challenge?

We can regard the history of Political Philosophy as a sequence of responses to a challenge that Plato left behind as a—somewhat poisoned—legacy of his political thoughts. In a nutshell this challenge consists of two assumptions: 1. People have to confer political power on political rulers who are authorized to make collective decisions about the public welfare according to their personal convictions and insights. 2. People have to trust their political rulers, and society has to ensure that trustworthy persons are enthroned as such. Both assumptions are closely related: political rulers in Plato’s view do not merely act as simple “representatives” who just do what they are told by the people or what the people would otherwise do themselves. Political rulers have to decide on the basis of their own knowledge and judgment which is not comprehensible to ordinary people. Therefore it is not possible for the people to evaluate and control the decisions of their political leaders and they thus have to trust in their leaders’ political wisdom and moral commitment to promote the common good. Plato’s own answer to this challenge is well known: we have to educate a societal elite in a manner that ensures that they acquire the knowledge and attitudes that qualify them as political rulers in whom people can trust. It is not an answer that has triggered many affirmative reactions; on the contrary, starting with Aristotle, it has evoked a long chain of attempts to refute Plato’s assumptions and conclusions in one way or another—and this chain has created much of the tradition behind the modern views on politics and political systems. These attempts question the need for autonomous political leadership by defending the ability of people to rule themselves in the form of direct democracy or via political representation, and/or they deny the necessity of genuine trust in political rulers by referring to institutionalized control and incentive mechanisms to prevent the misuse of power. Does the The Calculus of Consent belong to this tradition, and does it produce innovative and convincing arguments to take up Plato’s challenge? I will discuss these questions by first digressing and referring to a quite different approach to contesting Plato’s views. In

Two decades of Czech foreign policy and hegemony of Internationalism

The aim of the article is to offer a theoretically grounded explanation of the long-term continuity of Czech foreign policy. Czech foreign policy displays long-term continuity and consensus at the level of policy, but, at the same time, exhibits deep ideological differences among political and societal elites at the level of politics. The article argues against the mainstream (neo)liberal and (neo)realist theories that explain foreign policy outcomes in pure rationalist and materialist terms. Instead, the text follows the line of the critical constructivist school of International Relations and borrows heavily from post-structuralism. Thus, the article takes into account the ideational background of Czech foreign policy and argues that these deeply seated differences at the level of politics, stemming from mutually contradictory normative, philosophical and political beliefs, are subsequently neutralized by what is called the “hegemonic internationalist discourse”. In this context, the article explores the origins, nature and consequences of the power of the hegemonic internationalist discourse.

The Noble Enterprise of State Building: Reconsidering the Rise and Fall of the Modern State in Prussia and Poland

Analysis of the state-building process in modern Europe rests upon the traditional assumption that monarchs were the central driving force behind the consolidation of power in the form of a centralized state. However, an alternative state-society account challenges the supposition that monarchs were always the centralizing group in early modern society. The formation of the modern European state was ultimately shaped by the state-building strategies adopted by societal elites who possessed certain forms of social power. This alternative understanding of the state-building process helps explain the puzzling developments surrounding the successful rise of Brandenburg-Prussia and the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the early modern period.

Youth violence and positive psychology: Research potential through integration.

Positive psychologists can study the relation between some of the discipline's core dimensions and aversive outcomes, including youth violence. Dimensions such as gratitude, forgiveness, sense of meaning, altruism (or at least apparent altruism), prudence, and humility have received attention within positive psychology, and evidence is reviewed suggesting that these may also deserve empirical attention in terms of their relation to youth violence and even their potential to reduce youth violence. Keywords: positive psychology, violence, youth, character strengths Positive psychology as a field of study has shown remarkable growth over the last 15 years. The field now has its own journal (Journal of Positive Psychology); graduate programs (e.g., University of Pennsylvania, University of East London, Claremont Graduate University); dedicated scholarships and research grants; international conferences each year; researchers from Europe, the United States, and other regions; and wide sales for some of its textbooks (e.g., Peterson, 2006; Snyder & Lopez, 2007). One topic receiving little if any attention within this growing field is the application of positive psychology to research on youth violence. However, a positive psychology approach to youth violence research may not only be possible, but beneficial. We will argue for research explicitly linking some core constructs from positive psychology with research on youth violence. These constructs may reduce or at least predict reduced levels of youth violence. Admittedly, positive psychology and youth violence research may initially seem incompatible. Definitions of positive psychology tend to focus on the scientific study of positive traits and well-being (and sometimes positive institutions; e.g., Seligman, 2002). This definitional focus may seem to exclude a focus on youth violence. Bringing Balance to Positive Psychology by Studying Aversive Outcomes However, applying positive psychology to youth violence research may help bring balance to positive psychology. A persuasive case has been made by Wong (2009, 2010; see also Linley, Joseph, Harrington, & Wood, 2006) that more balance is needed in positive psychology. In particular, he argued that positive psychology focuses on the human appetitive system. In other words, the discipline tends to focus on goals that motivate approach, goals such as happiness and character strengths. These foci, of course, have value. However, Wong has argued that a balanced approach must also integrate the aversive system that helps people avoid or cope well with undesirable outcomes. Well-being requires not only approaching positive goals, but also avoiding negative outcomes or at least dealing well with negative outcomes. An exclusive focus on strengths and positive emotions ignores significant parts of human life. All humans must not only approach appetitive outcomes, but also avoid aversive outcomes. Building a sustainable future for individuals (O'Brien, 2008) requires not only building the good, but also avoiding the bad. In a sense, the tendency to ignore human tragedy and pain within positive psychology is surprising given the fact that resilience research (which presupposes the existence of tragedy that must be overcome) has been accepted by some to be within the domain of positive psychology (e.g., Yates & Masten, 2004). Furthermore, if positive psychology studies only appetitive constructs, the discipline may overrepresent concerns and causal agents especially relevant for the societal elites and ignore the social issues and barriers to the good life that are more common among the nonelite (e.g., poverty, hunger, violence; Wong, 2007). Thus, a balanced positive psychology will seek to promote strengths and happiness while simultaneously reducing aversive outcomes. Youth violence is clearly an undesirable outcome. As such, it has been largely ignored within positive psychology. …

The “Ordinary” on Commercial Radio and TV: A Reception Analysis of the Subject Position of Ordinary People in the Participatory Programs Recht van Antwoord and Zwart of Wit

In this article, the authors examine the articulation of the subject position ordinary people by analyzing focus group discussions on 2 North Belgian commercial (semi-) participatory programs: the radio talk show “Black or White” (Zwart of Wit) and the TV audience discussion program “Right of Answer” (Recht van Antwoord). The authors' main objectives are to develop a theoretical framework that does justice to the fluidity of the subject position “ordinary people” and to show how the relationist nature of its construction works within the reception of 2 specific talk shows. For this reason, the authors first discuss different theoretical models that deal with the everyday and the ordinary. Then, through the reception study, they identify 2 relationist discourses that articulate the complex and multilayered subject position of ordinary people. The subject position of ordinary people is first defined through a negative relation with societal elites. Second, the authors use a lower class-based definition (creating a negative relation with the middle and upper classes). They conclude by arguing that these 2 relationist discourses are structural limitations for the participatory process, transforming the ordinary into ordinariness.

Germany and Central and Eastern European Countries: Laggards or Veto-Players?

Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have always been loyal members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). Yet they have never shown enthusiasm for it or displayed noteworthy activism within a co-operation framework that is perceived by their foreign policy elite as a necessary concession to southern EU member states in order to secure the latter's support for continuing pro-active EU engagement in eastern Europe. With this in mind, this study provides a comparative analysis of the foreign policy of Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic toward the southern Mediterranean and discusses in particular the different responses of their governing, economic and societal elites to plans to create a Mediterranean Union (UM).

Waste Management in Ireland: Discourses of Domination in an (un)Reflexive Society

In recent times, Ireland has experienced dramatic changes in its economic fortunes, primarily as a result of global/transnational processes. One result of this dynamic modernity has been a greater public and political focus on its environmental consequences, evident for instance in the issue of waste management. Ulrich Beck's highly influential writings on Reflexive Modernity promise a seismic social transformation, where risks such as waste can be negotiated through processes of self-confrontation and democratisation. Yet, this has clearly not happened in the Irish case, where waste policy concentrates on disposal rather than prevention options, governance processes are characterised by power centralisation and marginalisation, and where certain communities are engaged in campaigns of opposition to government plans. This article argues that part of the problem in adapting Beck's framework to Irish waste is that it fails to account for an asymmetry of power relations, at both a macro and micro level, and as a result, underestimates the tenacity of certain societal elites to maintain the current trajectory of economic and technological development. It is proposed here that the application of a Foucauldian framework of a multi-dimensional framework of power can address some of these shortcomings by offering a focus on issues of consent, coercion, self-regulation (individualisation) and subjugation. In doing so, it is hoped that a novel contribution can be made to the relatively under-developed field of sociology of waste and offer a more general critique of Beck's Reflexive Modernisation thesis.

Second Face of Security Strategies: Anglo-German and Anglo-Japanese Trade Concessions During the 1930s

Great powers can pursue deliberate Trojan horse policies to transform rising and threatening states into followers and supporters rather than challengers by altering their domestic political and economic institutions. I contend that a great power can use trade concessions, rather than punishment, to enable a favorable foreign policy coalition in a target country. The intent is to strengthen the political power of state and societal elites who have a stake in deepening international ties, while opponents of such policies will be weakened politically and economically. The societal winners will then apply pressure on the government to support their preferred outward-oriented grand strategy. I term this process the second face of security since it entails a less direct and more nuanced method of creating security. I examine Britain's commercial policies toward Germany and Japan during the 1930s to better understand second-face strategies. I argue that the intent of Britain's industrial and commercial policy was to strengthen conservative business, government officials, and economic circles in banking, light industry, and finished goods, and even heavy industry in order to steer Berlin and Tokyo away from rearmament, extreme autarky, and war.

The Czech Economic Elite after Fifteen Years of Post-socialist Transformation

The East-Central European post-socialist transformations have now reached a new stage, with the need to address the problems of further moderni- sation and maintenance in the context of the EU. The role of elites in this process is as intermediators between the influence of the European context and the needs and interests of differentiated internal social structures. Their attitudes and behaviour exhibit a high degree of internal fragmentation and division cor- responding to various strategical orientations favouring various societal models. The post-socialist Czech economic elite was initially reproduced out of former state socialist managers and their cadre reserves. After the first phase of eco- nomic developments, inspired by neo-liberal radical privatisation and elements of 'shock therapy', and once the new, more European phase ushered in many new factors, there was a distinct decline in the number of 'old-new' economic elite on the scene. In the empirical part of the article the results of several sur- veys are used to briefly describe the changes in the composition of the Czech economic elite in the 1994-2005 period and to summarise their attitudes and be- haviour. The analysis concludes that the current image of a liberal and pro-Eu- ropean Czech elite is consistent with the stable and remarkable progress of the Czech economy since 1999, the considerable wealth, strong profits, and high salaries enjoyed by top elites, and the enhancement of their role in the European economy. There are also some limitations and weak points that diverge from this general picture. The article's conclusions touch on the question of the role of the economic elite in the progress of arriving at more consensual attitudes and be- haviour among societal elites as a whole, favouring further economic growth, modernisation and the strengthening of social cohesion in the context of the EU.