Should we believe in the minority elites or the majority? On the one hand, the masses have sharp eyes, but on the other hand, the truth is often in the hands of a few.

660 has thought about this issue more than once. When he talked to the executive officer about this issue, the executive officer said to him: "Let's first understand what elitism is."

Eliteism is a theory that understands and explains the structure and development of politics and society based on realism.

Eliteism believes that members of certain classes, or specific groups, should be regarded as elites due to their advantages in mind, social status or financial resources: the views of these elites should be taken more seriously; the views and behaviors of these elites are more likely to have a constructive role in society; or the abilities or wisdom of these elites make them particularly suitable for governance.

Early elitism originated in Italy. Mosca, Pareto, Michels, Ortega, Gustav Le Pen and others developed early elitism theory based on criticism of mass democracy. Max Weber, Schumpeter and others started from democratic politics and demonstrated the political rationality of elite democracy. Contemporary elitists, such as Burnham, Mills and others, argued elitism from the perspective of economic and institutional.

The rise of elitism reflects the conservative attitude of the Western ideological community towards the rise of mass democracy. People's attempts to use elitism to fight against mass democracy. Britishism has been criticized and challenged by pluralism, socialism and other thoughts, and is declining in the contemporary era. The emerging new elitism has paid more attention to interest groups and tried to make breakthroughs in issues such as elite decision-making and the legitimacy of elite rule.

People often use concepts such as "power elite", "social elite", "oligarch", and "ruling class" to call elites. Pareto defines elites from the two aspects of "height" and "quality" based on the distinction between the concepts of "elite rule" and "people". Max Weber, Schumpeter and others tend to regard elites as winners of democratic politics; Laswell tries to use the concept of "height" as a standard for quantitative analysis of elites. But today, even within elites, the meaning of elites is not consistent.

The opposite of elitism is populism.

Populism can be translated as populism, and is a social trend that emerged in Russia in the 19th century. The basic theories of populism include: extreme emphasis on the values ​​and ideals of the masses of the masses, and regard populism and popularization as the ultimate source of the legitimacy of all political movements and political systems; relying on the masses of the masses to carry out radical reforms to society and treat the masses of the masses as the only decisive force of political reform; by emphasizing populist values ​​such as the unity of the masses, referendums, and the creation power of the people, effectively control and manipulation of the masses of the masses of the masses as a whole.

Populism is on the surface with the people as the core, but in fact it lacks the concept of citizens' personal dignity and basic personal rights. Populists worship the "people", but they worship the "people" as an abstract whole, but they hold an extremely contemptuous attitude towards the specific "people" that make up the "people". Populists oppose authority, but they cannot tolerate opposition or even "bystanders". The Russian populist had a famous saying back then: "Whoever is not with 'we' is against 'we'; whoever opposes 'we' is the enemy of 'we'; and all means should be eliminated against the enemy."

As a social trend, the basic meaning of populism is its extreme tendency to popularize, that is, it emphasizes the values ​​and ideals of the masses, and regards popularization and popularization as the ultimate source of the legitimacy of all political movements and political systems, so as to judge the development of social history. It opposes elitism, ignores or extreme denies the important role of political elites in the development of social history. People can define populism as an ideology, according to this ideology, legitimacy is in the will of the people, so it embodies radical democratic ideals. This populism corresponds to direct democracy and is characterized by democratic extremism.

Populism is also a strategy of political rule. As a political strategy, it refers to the way to mobilize the masses of civilians to participate in the political process. From this perspective, "populism can only be understood as a social and political mobilization, which means a trend of political action and political discussion. It cannot be defined as a special type of regime, nor is it a specific ideology, but a political style that can be applied to various ideologies." The main feature of this political policy is to effectively control and manipulate the masses as a whole by emphasizing populist values ​​such as the unity of civilians, referendum, and the creation power of the people. Therefore, populism has become "a special and specific way of manipulating the masses and a means of expressing their interests. It can also be regarded as a way for the ruling group to organize its power, the main political expression of the emerging masses in the process of industrial and urban development, and the mechanism for the ruling group to rule, and it is also a potential danger that threatens this rule.
Chapter completed!