The circulation of elites: How the ruling class falls

All societies are ruled by an organized minority, a class of elites. This is an iron and inescapable law, as certain in modern democracies as it has been in every society throughout history. Popular sovereignty may be the legitimating mechanism for our current elite, but there is always a ruling class.

The Italian political theorist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto observed that all ruling classes contain a balance of what he referred to as residues, and of those residues, two types are most prominent: the type one residues, or foxes, and the type two residues, or lions. Foxes are the elites who are crafty and clever. They focus on combinations to create new ideas and solutions. Lions are strong and brave. They focus on persistence of identity and tradition.

Foxes are academics and merchants; lions are generals and police captains. While one group may dominate at any given time, all ruling classes contain a mixture of these two primary residues.

While a ruling class is always present, no healthy society has a totally static set of elites. The conditions a nation faces are constantly shifting, and the composition of a ruling elite must also constantly adapt in order to meet new challenges. During a time of war or physical danger, a society needs an elite composed primarily of lions to provide a steady stream of commanders capable of training and leading an army into battle. In a time of peace, economic or logistical concerns may require solutions that only foxes can provide. The elite class will always require some mixture of both skill sets, but it must be fluid enough to adapt its composition to the needs of the civilization over which it rules.

Aristocracy is an inescapable fact of human organization. Just as there will always be a ruling class, that ruling class will always seek to pass its power and privilege on to its heirs. Whether fox or lion, all members of the ruling elite grant preference to their friends, families, and other members of their class. This means that no ruling elite is ever completely open to the elevation of common members of the society to its ranks.

This preference serves a practical purpose. Those descended from the ruling class are more likely to have the natural ability and receive the skills and training necessary to lead. A completely open ruling class leads to instability, as those of dubious qualification engage in a never-ending struggle for power and dominance.

But even if a totally open elite were desirable, it never exists for long, as the drive to pass property and privilege on to one’s lineage is one of the most powerful human instincts. Anyone ignoring this iron law of human nature when evaluating power will fail miserably.

While aristocracy is unavoidable, an elite must change over time to reflect the needs of the society, so every healthy ruling class allows some method by which new members may be elevated into positions of leadership. The ruled class will always contain capable and ambitious individuals who can bring new skills and solutions to bear on the problems currently facing their civilization.

In some societies, aristocrats adopted exceptional members of the lower class. In others, the church or military were used as institutions to sort and elevate those of extraordinary talent. In many Western nations today, financial success or educational attainment are used as ladders by which exceptional individuals ascend to the ruling elite. No matter what mechanism a specific society uses, any ruling elite that seeks to maintain its power must strike a balance between the persistence of its own dominant minority and the circulation of capable individuals into its ranks.

The temptation to close the ranks of the elite is great, as it allows for a more extreme concentration of power and wealth among those who rule. In the past, the consolidation may have been based on blood or religion; today it is more likely to be ideological, but in either case, an elite that decides to limit access to the best and brightest will always set itself on the path to ruin. Over time, a closed elite will degenerate as it limits or completely ceases the flow of capable individuals who can shift the composition of the ruling class.

In virtue of class-circulation, the governing elite is always in a state of slow and continuous transformation. It flows on like a river, never being today what it was yesterday. From time to time sudden and violent disturbances occur. There is a flood — the river overflows its banks. Afterward the new governing elite again resumes its slow transformation. The flood has subsided, and the river is again flowing normally in its wonted bed.

Revolutions come about through accumulations in the higher strata of society — either because of a slowing down in class-circulation or from other causes — of decadent elements no longer possessing the residues suitable for keeping them in power, and shrinking from the use of force; while meantime in the lower strata of society elements of superior quality are coming to the fore, possessing residues suitable for exercising the functions of government and willing enough to use force. (Pareto, "Compendium of General Sociology," p. 279.)

A closed elite dooms itself in a myriad of ways. It degenerates and becomes decadent as those chosen purely out of nepotism become more and more sure of their right to rule. The elite lose any connection to the ruled as their interactions become increasingly insular, and they grow disdainful of the lower classes. All the while, they have denied themselves access to the skilled who would naturally rise to leadership and balance the mixture of the elite. This generally leads to an extreme imbalance of foxes and lions in the ruling class, as one residue becomes overrepresented in the nepotistic elite that now favors only those of the same disposition.

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