Vilfredo Pareto divided every society into a lower stratum, the non-elite, and an upper stratum, the elite — those who score highest on whatever capacity their society rewards. He then split the elite itself in two. The governing elite comprises individuals who directly or indirectly play an appreciable part in government. The non-governing elite comprises everyone else of high capacity — leading scientists, industrialists, lawyers, artists, chess champions, in Pareto's own examples — who stands at the top of a field but not of the state.
How it works
The distinction turns on the difference between excellence and rule. Pareto's elite is defined by measurable superiority, not by power; power is a further, narrower attribute. The governing elite is therefore a subset of the elite, and a small one. Crucially, the boundary is permeable in both directions, and the traffic across it is what makes politics move.
Why it matters
The non-governing elite is Pareto's reservoir. When the governing elite absorbs capable individuals from below, it renews itself and survives; when it closes its ranks, the excluded talent accumulates outside and can crystallise into a counter-elite that overthrows it. The distinction thus supplies the mechanism behind the circulation of elites and Pareto's claim that revolutions are elite replacements rather than popular victories.
Points of debate
Critics object that Pareto's criterion of superior capacity is circular, since those who rise are declared able because they rose. Marxists argue that the distinction obscures the point that governing and non-governing elites are usually drawn from the same propertied class. Others note that Pareto ignores organisation and institutions, which Mosca and Michels treated as the real source of minority rule.
For the UPSC answer
Use the pair to show that Pareto's elite theory is about mobility as much as domination, and to introduce circulation. In the Indian case, the ascent of dominant-caste and backward-caste leaders into legislatures while older professional and business elites remain outside formal politics is a useful illustration of the two strata operating separately.
References & further reading
- Pareto, V. (1935). The Mind and Society. Harcourt, Brace. (Italian original 1916.)
- Mosca, G. (1939). The Ruling Class. McGraw-Hill.
- Bottomore, T. (1964). Elites and Society. Watts.