Political Parties

by Michels, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780029212509
• ISBN10: 0029212502
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1966-04-01
• Publisher: Free Press

Summary

First published in German in 1911, this book introduces the concept of iron law oligarchy.

Considered a classic text of social sciences, Political Parties analyzes the power structures of organizations such as political parties and trade unions.

Robert Michels argues that all organizations, even those in theory most egalitarian and most committed to democracy, such as socialist political parties, are in fact oligarchical and dominated by a small group of leadership.

Author Biography

Robert Michels was a German-Italian sociologist known for his contributions to elite theory through the study of political behavior in intellectual elites. He is best known for his book Political Parties.

Table of Contents

Author's Preface	p. 5
Introduction	p. 15
Introduction
Democratic Aristocracy and Aristocratic Democracy	p. 43
The Ethical Embellishment of Social Struggles	p. 52
Leadership in Democratic Organizations
Technical and Administrative Causes of Leadership
Introductory - The Need for Organization	p. 61
Mechanical and Technical Impossibility of Direct Government by the Masses	p. 63
The Modern Democratic Party as a Fighting Party, Dominated by Militarist Ideas and Methods	p. 78
Psychological Causes of Leadership
The Establishment of a Customary Right to the Office of Delegate	p. 81
The Need for Leadership felt by the Mass	p. 85
The Political Gratitude of the Masses	p. 92
The Cult of Veneration Among the Masses	p. 93
Accessory Qualities Requisite to Leadership	p. 98
Accessory Peculiarities of the Masses	p. 105
Intellectual Factors
Superiority of the Professional Leaders in Respect to Culture, and Their Indispensability; the Formal and Real Incompetence of the Mass	p. 107
Autocratic Tendencies of Leaders
The Stability of Leadership	p. 117
The Financial Power of the Leaders and of the Party	p. 129
The Leaders and the Press	p. 149
The Position of the Leaders in Relation to the Masses in Actual Practice	p. 153
The Struggle Between the Leaders and the Masses	p. 167
The Struggle Among the Leaders Themselves	p. 172
Bureaucracy. Centralizing and Decentralizing Tendencies	p. 188
The Exercise of Power and Its Psychological Reaction upon the Leaders
Psychological Metamorphosis of the Leaders	p. 205
Bonapartist Ideology	p. 212
Identification of the Party with the Leader ("Le Parti c'est Moi")	p. 220
Social Analysis of Leadership
Introductory. The Class Struggle and Its Disintegrating Influence upon the Bourgeoisie	p. 227
Analysis of the Bourgeois Elements in the Socialist Leadership	p. 238
Social Changes Resulting from Organization	p. 254
The Need for the Differentiation of the Working Class	p. 271
Labor Leaders of Proletarian Origin	p. 277
Intellectuals, and the Need for Them in the Working-Class Parties	p. 293
Attempts to Restrict the Influence of the Leaders
The Referendum	p. 307
The Postulate of Renunciation	p. 312
Syndicalism as Prophylactic	p. 317
Anarchism as Prophylactic	p. 325
Synthesis: The Oligarchical Tendencies of Organization
The Conservative Basis of Organization	p. 333
Democracy and the Iron Law of Oligarchy	p. 342
Party-Life in War-Time	p. 357
Final Considerations	p. 364
Index of Names	p. 373
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.