Critical Remarks on Critical Elite Theory

Critical Remarks on Critical Elite Theory KOULA MELLOS 1. Meaning of Critique In his analysis of liberalism as the ideology of capitalism, Marx exemplified the essentially critical nature of social theory. He demonstrated how the theory of political economy enunciated by Smith, Bentham, Ricardo and others, though it claimed to yield principles of social and economic behaviour irrespective of specific socioeconomic conditions, was in fact a justificatory theory of capitalism. He traced its conclusions to liberal individualist assumptions about human nature, assumptions themselves reflecting characteristics of capitalist society.1 This illustrates the meaning of critique as the investigation of the origin, extent and validity of knowledge, specifically knowledge about problems of man and society.2 We shall argue that it is only in this welldefined sense that critique can deliberately contribute to the transcending of the repressive con- . straints inherent in the social order at a given historical juncture. There is, of course, another more widely used meaning of critique which does not necessarily involve this self-reflective dimension of· social theory. The identification of injustice, social protest of diverse types, and reformism all include or are based on criticisms of present-day society. Insofar as many of these social critiques . take for granted some set of social values or are based on some commonly accepted ideals for social organization, they do not satisfy the epistemological criterion for critical theorizing mentioned above and as worked out, for example, by the Frankfurt school, especially Habermas. In drawing on current values as self-evident or some fundamental social hypothesis as apparently acceptable to all, these critiques are not aware that the particular formulation of these values and the specific configuration of the ideals are in large measure generated by the social practice of the 72 particular epoch in which they are situated. Ideologies disguise their highly particular origins so as to cast a universalistic justification over the social formation and mode of production that generated them. Critique, in this loose sense, then, is inexorably drawn into the logic of the dominant ideology and instead of contributing to the transcendence of a particular historical stage of society, tends in subtle and unsuspecting ways to be supportive of the current system, to help in its preservation and its immunity from transformative change. Thus, in evaluating the supportive versus transcendent import of a purported critique, it is more important to examine the extent to which it reflects upon the ideological origins of its own premises than to allow oneself to be impressed by the radicalism of its positions, the vehemence of its language or the scientific rigour of its empirical basis. It is from this perspective that this paper studies representatives of a major "critical" current in North American sociology, that of the critique of elites. This approach, inspired to a great extent by C. Wright Mills,3 is pursued today in the U.S. by Domhoff4 and others, though with an increasingly Marxist flavour. In Canada the classic study in this genre is that of Porters and this has also led to recent Marxist-oriented works, notably that of Clement.6 We choose to study Mills as the post-war originator of critical elite theory, Porter as the major Canadian sociologist concerned with elites and Clement as representing current Canadian directions in this field. Both Porter and Clement explicitly ally themselves with the Millsian approach, draw on his analysis for concepts and refer to his key arguments . We show, however, that although all these are critics of elites, Mills arrives at his critique via pragmatism, from a rather classical liberalism, but Porter's and Clement's epistemology can be more directly traced to American pluralist liberalism of the fifties and sixties. In all these cases we will show how the critique can be reduced to decrying the gap between normative liberal themes and the current social practice of advanced capitalist society. This holds true even for Clement, despite the Marxist cast of his work. Revue d'etudes canadiennes Vol. 13, No. 4(Hiver1978-79 Winter) First we sketch the sociological pedigree of critical elite theory in the earlier, avowedly justificatory , elite theories of modern pluralist sociology which are explicitly supportive of advanced capitalist social...