Elite Theory and its Consecrated Genealogy

Abstract

Retracting the genealogy of authors and texts in the area of elite theory, the article accompanies the consecrated sequence of formulators of this iheory, starting with its founding fathers. It examines their theses, common ground and points of difference, main influences, and commen­tators. In addition to the area’s most often cited names — such as Mosca, Pareto, Michels, Burnham, Schumpeter, Lasswell, Wright, Mills, Dahl, Aron, Mannheim, Ortega y Gasset, Keller, and Bachrach — the article also looks at authors like Le Bon, Veblen, Lippmann, Sweezy, Lipset, and Bobbio.