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-Elitist Theory
In one sense almost all politics is elitist, in that almost all
government decisions are made by the few rather than the
many. But elitist theory says more than this: it asserts that it is
always the same elite that make policies, whatever the nature
of the issue; that this elite acts in concert or at least has a
common social, economic, or occupational background; and
that the elite is only weakly influenced, if at all, by popular
opinion.
One could describe client politics as a partial conformation
of elite theory. Obviously, when a few individualsbusiness
people, union leader, professors, state welfare directors
acquire substantial influence over a broad policy area from
which they benefit, they are an elite. But these examples
illustrate the inherent ambiguity in elite theory. It makes all the
difference whether a small group has power because it
constitutes the direct beneficiary of some policy (as with dairy
farmers, merchant seamen, or university research laboratories
or because it has certain general characteristics (wealth,
prestige, social standing) that enable it to influence even
policies that do not affect its interests. Elite theory subscribes
to the latter view of elitesthat they are powerful simply
because of their personal attributes.
Client politics should not be regarded as a confirmation of
elite theory but as an illustration of how the distribution of the
costs and benefits of a proposed public policy differentially
influences the abilities of the affected groups to shape that
policy. The power of an activist federal judiciary is a better
illustration of elite theorynot because judges are well paid or
prestigious but because they are drawn from a profession (law)
that provides them with cues and rewards that influence their
decisions. Judges make decisions without being closely
constrained by interest groups or voters but with considerable