Critical Realism in Politics, Economics & Philosophy

Analysis without Ideology

The point of this newsletter/blog will be to apply the insights of the Italian Elite School (Pareto, Mocas, and Michels) with the research of social psychology, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science. I am particularly interested in developing new interpretive frameworks the combine the social intuitionism of Jonathan Haidt with Pareto’s and Michels’ unique theories of power elitism. You cannot understand contemporary social movements and their relation to politics without appreciating the differences between ruling elites and the ruled masses. Motivations and character change as individuals scale hierarchies and political ideologies take on different meanings to elites and non-elites. For elites, an ideology is a rationalization for power; for non-elites, it's often little more than a vague (and thoroughly impotent)  wish to live in a certain type of social order. Behind these rationalizations lie much deeper motivations. These motivations are often unconscious and difficult to decipher, but they can be inferred (essentially as educated guess) from behavior.