I am more of a pluralist, but understand the need for some of the power elite system. The people should ultimately decide what the country should more go towards, they should be the force that evolves the country. And forming special interests groups are great, because a group has more power than a signal individual. I believe that the elitists are more of a balancing force, or restoring force. Which allows the people to guide the country, but not to far into one direction too fast. This is because people’s perception and ideas might be skewed to exactly what the facts of the situation are. So the elitists are there to be knowledgeable enough to make decisions that will not let the people go in a direction, where they really don’t want to go. …show more content…
In that that single person can join any group they want based upon what they believe. And there will definitely be other people with the same interests as you. So the the single individual becomes a group, in which the group all has more say and power than just one of the individuals in that group. That power comes from the votes that the group has as well as the culmination of money and resources that the group can posses. There is really no predicting what the political system will be like in the future. That’s because it is ever changing, and certainly can go off in almost any direction. But, I think that it is going to stay fairly similar to what it is now because both the pluralist model and the power elite model have their roles in the American political system. Though it is certainly a battle on how much power and sway each one of them has on the political
In the United States, pluralism is pertinent and very significant for the government because the government itself is distributed with various powers given to the states. These states then give powers to their local governments, which continues to distribute the power. In the government system, there are levels of that consist of branches that control the many different parts of the system, so that no one person or group is given too much power. The United States has a system of checks and balances, which is pertinent to the power system and the pluralist theory ("What is a pluralist theory of government?" 2017).
The elite theory believes that a small group consisting of powerful people holds the most power, and that this power is independent of a state's democratic elections process. Elite theory argues either that democracy is in all unrealistic, or that democracy is not able to be achieved within capitalism. Within the elite theory not everyone is going to have the power when making decisions only the most powerful group. Overall meaning the elite theory can determine the trajectory of the society, and therefore the conditions which the members of that society must exist and function. When considering who’s interest does the elite theory compromise it would be hard to find an answer considering that all these groups work together to protect each other’s
Presently, there are three theories that have been posed to explain the American political process. They are, elite theory, hyperpluralism, and pluralism. While all of them have sufficient evidence in regard to discussion and debate, pluralism undoubtedly best explains the American political process. Pluralism states that our democracy is best achieved by the existence and cooperation between various groups, and individuals, which participate in government by means of election. In context of American politics, pluralism is the core which our political process revolves around.
The United States of America is known to have two major political parties. The Republican party and the democratic one. Both parties are based on views and principles being completely opposites of each other. The Republican party is known to be a conservative party, while the democratic party is known to be liberal. Two concepts that are opposites to each other. The democratic party will most certainly convince the majority of the people that it is the ideal party to remain in office because it promotes economic equality, it advocates civil rights and individual freedom, and because it is a liberal party.
Like stated in the book, the parties other than Republicans and Democrats have even had success in the past. That’s typically when the Republicans and Democrats aren’t addressing the issues that Americans are concerned with. But once the minor parties get some steam going, the republicans and democrats take action, leaving the minor parties back to where they started. Therefore, I truly think it will always be between Republicans and
Collectivism is the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual (Merriam-Webster). Those who believe in collectivism think having society working towards the same goal or outcome is the most productive. Supporters of this theory feel it creates harmony and a sense of belonging (Andrews 1). Collective societies tend to be dependent on others in the group or institutions to meet their needs. Members of a collective society expect absolute loyalty to the group and have a “we” mentality (Andrews 1). As Ray Bradbury pointed out in Fahrenheit 451, when a collective society is present, “...they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else.” (31) The individual has no self-identity and is lost to the group. Although aspects of this argument are enticing, it ultimately fails to be a stronger argument because individual responsibility nor moral responsibility is present. There is no incentive for any individual to step up because everyone receives the same reward. Through collaboration and collective thoughts are great tools, we must remember that the original thought was generated by the individual and he or she should benefit from
Is the United States of America run by the few chosen elites who dominate the policymaking? Or do you believe that you have a say over your countries lawmaking and policymaking decisions? Some might believe so and argue that we do and that we live in a democracy controlled country which allows all citizens to take part of all laws passed and have a say on what goes on in this country. Others, however, might argue that this country is run by the so-called few elites, who have control over all decisions and laws that get passed throughout the country. I, however, disagree with this claim. I believe that the people have control over policymaking in this republic democracy country, and the people’s voices are heard and not ignored when it comes
Two-tiered pluralism differs from pluralism because of the effect it has upon the minority groups of the nation. While there is an equal legal backing for all racial and ethnic communities, minorities are still undermined by the system thus becoming segregated. Moreover in politics, minority groups tend to be under seclusion even though the current enacted laws grant equality at all stages. The amount of resources given to minorities are very different to elites leading to the practices and outcomes to be unequal (Lecture 6). Pluralism is very different from the two-tiered pluralism framework as it focuses upon group-based competition and that everyone has equal opportunities
The Elite theory best helps explain another form of government being the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch of government is the technical term for the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court is the highest level of court and is looked as the interpreters of the Constitution. Their soul job is to help clarify the Constitution when parts of the Constitution aren’t so clear. The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges selected personally by the President and are approved by Congress. None of this is done by any outside group, you could argue however that other people somehow influence the opinion of one person or the other on a certain decision but overall very clearly this form of government is ran by elites. Although this branch is run by Elites that does not necessarily mean it should be ran that way. The Supreme Court is suppose to be the interpreter of the Constitution and it is said by Marshall, in the case Mabury vs. Madison, that the constitution is the “"the fundamental and paramount law of the nation.” This leaving the question to: Why would you want someone deciding the law of this nation when they aren’t even elected by the people they are running? Since the people are not involved in this
Politics is an integral part of our society, and in order for the citizens of any society, or a county to protect their rights and interest, electing the right people, and right theories are necessary. When it comes to government, Elitism and Pluralism are two systems which can be used as a structure of how the powers will be distributed. While the theory of Elitism prefers the distribution of power to be based on wealth, ancestry and intellect; Pluralism theory is much more diverse in the distribution of power, as it ensures equality for everyone, regardless of any differences. Pluralism serves as the model of modern western democracy. In the case of Baltimore, the pluralist theory is much more efficient due to its views on authority, rights
Pluralist theory views politics and decision making as a competitive phenomenon where different groups and individuals have different views and that there is no single elite group that exercises influence (Davis & Go, 2009). The theory holds that power is relatively broadly distributed among different interest groups. These groups hold different views of the same aspect and compete with each other for
Only two of the elitist theories allow for representative democracy to be possible. Only Marxist and pluralist make it possible. They do this because both still allow for the leaders who make decisions to be put into power through a popular vote while the others do not.
On the contrary the pluralist view claims that government is ruled not by single elite, but there are a number of elite
need to belong to a group. Often, this need leads people to form what might be viewed as unhealthy allegiances to a person or group who, ultimately, does not truly have the person's interest at heart.
This idea reminds of the Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, who is the one to power the others. The similarity of these ideas lies in the fact that in Elitist’s theory they assume that all people are not created equal: some are stronger, more intelligent, more artistic, etc. Of course, not all abilities lead to economic wealth or political power-however, those people who have the most of the particular abilities which a society rewards become the political elite. Here we can draw a line to cross out Marx’s idea that people are born equal and the only thing that makes them different is being attributed to certain social class and therefore, there personal characteristics defer the social structure-the economic structure. Another Elitist Gaetano Mosca proposed the idea that there is a ruling elite, so-called “Classe Politica” (political elite) and “Social forces”-those social and economic categories on whom the society depends on because of their particular abilities. In other words, not the whole layer of elite actually rules-political power is the representative one-social forces have a major influence in them. Moreover, political elite are also the representatives of the masses- all elites stabilize their rule by making it acceptable to the masses. This is achieved by “political formula”, e.g.: