I have come to believe (and I would argue that pre/historical evidence supports this view) that our governing institutions have arisen in order to protect a small minority of ‘elite’—and have been doing this for millennia; it is neither new nor unique to Modernity. Once our growing complex societies started having a surplus of resources and required organisational structures to allocate them, individuals/families/groups gained ‘power’ and tended to not only consolidate it but grew to maintain and expand it over time. This Conflict Theory (as opposed to the Integrationist Theory that argues disproportionate influence and power of our elite is the ‘natural’ remuneration for those that serve the interests of the masses) is heavily denigrated by the ‘elite’, preferring to push the Integrationist one.
President Ronald Reagan in the early 80s so I’ve been around that used to teach Goverment school social studies and the study right here is pretty damn interesting and I’m glad I read it. Thanks for sharing.
The other day, I was thinking about the 2014 Gilens and Page study, wondering if it held up to critique and further study. Apparently, it has. Take the results with a grain of salt, but I had Chat GPT do "deep research" on that question. Here's what it spit out: https://chatgpt.com/s/dr_687030a266508191a316569c19893318
Of course, all of us in the USA knew this in our bones...
Thanks for this Oakie. Good stuff. Not that it's surprising.
I have come to believe (and I would argue that pre/historical evidence supports this view) that our governing institutions have arisen in order to protect a small minority of ‘elite’—and have been doing this for millennia; it is neither new nor unique to Modernity. Once our growing complex societies started having a surplus of resources and required organisational structures to allocate them, individuals/families/groups gained ‘power’ and tended to not only consolidate it but grew to maintain and expand it over time. This Conflict Theory (as opposed to the Integrationist Theory that argues disproportionate influence and power of our elite is the ‘natural’ remuneration for those that serve the interests of the masses) is heavily denigrated by the ‘elite’, preferring to push the Integrationist one.
Great stuff
President Ronald Reagan in the early 80s so I’ve been around that used to teach Goverment school social studies and the study right here is pretty damn interesting and I’m glad I read it. Thanks for sharing.
The other day, I was thinking about the 2014 Gilens and Page study, wondering if it held up to critique and further study. Apparently, it has. Take the results with a grain of salt, but I had Chat GPT do "deep research" on that question. Here's what it spit out: https://chatgpt.com/s/dr_687030a266508191a316569c19893318
Of course, all of us in the USA knew this in our bones...
The data on policy influence is damning. Can we really reclaim democracy from lobbyists without violent upheaval?