Political Class

Origin of the Theory of Political Class

The concept of political class has acquired a well-established status among crucial concepts of modern political science since Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941). In his first major work, Teorica Dei Governi E Governo Parlamentare (the title can be literally translated as “A Theory of Political Regimes and the Parliamentary Government”), published in 1883 when he was only 24 years old, the Italian scholar proposed the concept of political class as the key to a new innovative approach to the study of political phenomena. Mosca's ambitions were not only of a substantive nature—to explore a political phenomenon that supposedly was not yet well understood—but also epistemological and methodological. An admirer of the extraordinary developments of the natural sciences during the 19th century, he aimed to overcome the unsatisfactory state of political studies and to attain a more scientific level that would put them on the same level with the more established disciplines. The key to this was to be found first in the development of a sound base of empirical observations to support the formulation of scientific propositions and then in the ability to capture the true substance of the political phenomena and move beyond the mere appearances that often mislead the observers.

To achieve the first objective, Mosca set out to exploit the rich treasures of historical knowledge that in the course of the 19th century had made enormous advances and to draw from them the empirical materials for a comparative analysis of political phenomena. With regard to the second objective, which was to become the focal point of his research, the proposal he advanced was to go beyond the images of politics currently offered by the dominant ideologies (both democratic and traditionalist) and to look for the real power holders, that is, the small minorities, or what he defined as the “political class.” That power is always in the hands of small groups of people was the fundamental postulate of Mosca's theory of the political class. According to his analysis, neither large numbers of people, such as a democratic demos, nor single individuals, such as monarchs, who are often described by current interpretations of politics (and especially by ideologies) as the rulers of different political regimes, are the real power holders. They always need a relatively small number of organized people to conduct (in their name) the business of government.

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