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In political science and sociology, elite theory is a theory of the state which seeks to describe and explain the power relationships in contemporary society. The theory posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks, holds the most power and that this power is independent of a state's democratic elections process. Through positions in corporations or on corporate boards, and influence over the policy-planning networks through financial support of foundations or positions with think tanks or policy-discussion groups, members of the "elite" are able to exert significant power over the policy decisions of corporations and governments. An example of this can be found in the ''Forbes'' magazine article (published in December 2009) entitled ''The World's Most Powerful People,'' in which ''Forbes'' purported to list the 67 most powerful people in the world (assigning one "slot" for each 100,000,000 of human population). Even when entire groups are ostensibly completely excluded from the state's traditional networks of power (historically, on the basis of arbitrary criteria such as nobility, race, gender, or religion), elite theory recognizes that "counter-elites" frequently develop within such excluded groups. Negotiations between such disenfranchised groups and the state can be analyzed as negotiations between elites and counter-elites. A major problem, in turn, is the ability of elites to co-opt counter-elites. Elite theory opposes pluralism, a tradition that assumes that all individuals, or at least the multitude of social groups, have equal power and balance each other out in contributing to democratic political outcomes representing the emergent, aggregate will of society. Elite theory argues either that democracy is a utopian folly, as it is traditionally viewed in the conservative Italian tradition, or that democracy is not realizable within capitalism, as is the view of the more Marxist-compatible contemporary elite theory permutation. The field of elite theory thus encompasses opposing normative orientations to democracy. Elite theory has likewise countered state autonomy theory, a tradition that has attempted to demonstrate that enlightened, independent, often middle-class state managers have the power to effectively intervene in capitalist market power to uphold the aggregate social and economic interests of the entire nation. Where Rousseau posed the General Will as the liberal democratic solution to the conservative Hobbesian problem of the state as sovereign protector, with the caveat that factions would undermine the General Will, the pro-democratic elite theory approach demonstrates that Pluralist and State Autonomy liberals are only attempting, unsuccessfully, to avoid the Rousseauian problem: accumulated, exclusive private property within capitalism fuels a capitalist faction that colonizes and eviscerates the democratic General Will. However, even pro-democratic elite theory tends to diverge from Marxism where elite theory assumes military power as a determining, independent aspect of elite power. While this is admittedly a fine line, Marxists tend to view the military as subordinate to capital within capitalism. Essentially, elite theory accounts will foreground military power more than Marxists accounts will. ==Classical elite theory== The aristocratic version of this theory is the classical elite theory which is based on two ideas: # Power lies in position of authority in key economic and political institutions. # The psychological difference that sets elites apart is that they have personal resources, for instance intelligence and skills, and a vested interest in the government; while the rest are incompetent and do not have the capabilities of governing themselves, the elite are resourceful and will strive to make the government work. For in reality, the elite have the most to lose in a failed government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elite theory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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