From Power Elites to Influence Elites: Resetting Elite Studies for the 21st Century

• Published in: Theory, culture & society Vol. 34; no. 5-6; pp. 153 - 178
• Main Author: Wedel, Janine R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2017; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: 21st century; Accountability; Bureaucracy; Democracy; Elites; Elitism; Influence; Mills, Charles Wright (1916-1962); Neoliberalism; Power; Power elite; Social networks; Social research; post-democracy; revolving door; power cliques; influence elites; lobbying; social network theory; flex nets; illiberalism; military industrial complex; neoliberalism; think tanks; C. Wright Mills; inequality; 2008 financial crisis; financialization; power elite; Weber; institutional change; flex organizations; elites; class; accountability; elite theory
• ISSN: 0263-2764; 1460-3616
• DOI: 10.1177/0263276417715311

The dominant theory of elite power, grounded in Weberian bureaucracy, has analyzed elites in terms of stable positions at the top of enduring institutions. Today, many conditions that spawned these stable ‘command posts’ no longer prevail, and elite power thus warrants rethinking. This article advances an argument about contemporary ‘influence elites’. The way they are organized and the modus operandi they employ to wield influence enable them to evade public accountability, a hallmark of a democratic society. Three cases are presented, first to investigate changes in how elites operate and, second, to examine varying configurations in which the new elites are organized. The cases demonstrate that influence elites intermesh hierarchies and networks, serve as connectors, and coordinate influence from multiple, moving perches, inside and outside official structures. Their flexible and multi-positioned organizing modes call for reconsidering elite theory and grappling with the implications of these elites for democratic society.