Gaetano Mosca and the theory of the ruling class

Abstract

Gaetano Mosca dedicated much of his life’s work to his theory of the ruling class, developing it in numerous publications. Despite his long meditation on the subject and subsequent revisions, however, Mosca never provided a systematic, properly articulated expose’ of his doctrine, in which the various components were logically arranged and examined from all points of view. The present article gathers together the scattered parts of Mosca’s theories into an organic whole, giving the reader an immediate and fairly precise idea of both the complexity of the research as well as the unfinished state in which the author left it. The author draws freely upon passages from Mosca’s various works in order to illustrate the following aspects of the ruling class: composition and formation; extension; renewal and replacement; organization and means of exercising power.

JEL: B31, B51, B52