Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter have similar ideas of what democracy requires in order to function: competitive elitism.
The idea that the majority of the population should “vote and go homeâ€, and those who can (ie, their standard of intelligence, monetary wealth, etc…) should take an active role in the state where they should compete for power, much like in the economic market.
Now, my issue is that I’m kind of on the fence with this one.
I mean, I can see where they’re coming from, but at the same time… I feel like it’s definitely a moral thing where every citizen should have a voice and the freedom to actively participate in their government.
What are your opinions?
As well, Im not entirely sure I understand what Weber’s stance was on democracy. Could someone shed some light on that?
Thank you.
For quick readings on Weber and Schumpeter, please follow the attached links-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber_and_ … _socialism
revision-notes.co.uk/revision/999.html
“Schumpeter attacked conventional ideas about democracy. He attacked that such concepts as:
• The Common Good - This means different things to different people. Following Weber, there is an irreconcilable conflict of values, because values can not be determined rationally, and are fundamentally diverse.
• The Will of the People - The people are no a single collective entity. Normally divided on many issues, “the people” may even vote for different reasons for the same thing.
• The Will of any Individual - People may not necessarily have a clearly defined set of values, but rather have a set of vague desires and ideas. Furthermore, following Le Bon, if they participate in groups then they will be affected by group dynamics, which will influence their “will”.
He also argued that the individual will be fairly disconnected from the political process. Given that the size of the state diminishes the importance of the individual and makes things seem distant, unimportant and “unreal”, the political will of the individual will not amount to much. Because he is so disconnected and the events in politics have such little importance, the individual drops down to an almost infantile level of cognition when compared to that level of cognition that he would carry out in his daily life.â€