Alexis De Toqcueville (1805-1859) was a French political writer and he thought that the tyranny of the majority could be avoided by a system of strong local government or decentralisation, although he also felt that the public opinion tended towards tyranny. He believed that organized groups were necessary as mass participation by the public was impossible beyond voting. This system is working in the American political system where there is a system of checks and balances in place so that no single person or group can hold power.
A. F. Bentley (1870-1957) was the founder of Pluralism; he believed that every interest would form its own interest group and that the interplay of these interest groups was to jostle with one another for influence over policy within government, the role of the government being a broker responding to the demands of these groups. Bentley believed that this emphasises the competitive nature of the political system and argues that competition prevents power being concentrated in the hands of the few so to prevent an oligarchy. Bentleys approach was empirical and pragmatic for it’s time, but it is no longer accepted that for every potential group there corresponds an actual group, some groups never come into existence.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) would claim that the fundamental structures that make up society never change and power is never distributed to the poorer sections of society. Marxists would argue that the pluralistic state would never work because the working class people would be made to think that they have power but in reality the capitalist elite would hold almost all the power. To Marxists it is obvious that in a capitalist society, businessmen, landowners, military men and the like will always use their wealth to manipulate the political system especially in the USA.
The USA has always been a safe haven for people fleeing from their own countries oppressions and class divisions, but they have been disappointed at what they thought would be a truly free and fair society, some found that they were treated like second class citizens and that the streets were not paved with gold. Immigrants felt excluded and were not able to vote although many joined political interest groups, their power to get the government to listen to their plight was limited. America today is no better than it was when mass immigration was taking place in the early 20th c, many people still feel their voice is not being heard and a lot of people who now have the vote do not bother because they know that the government is influenced by those who hold power and wealth and not the ordinary man in the street. Many Americans are disillusioned their political system.
Robert Dahl (1915- ) developed the theory of polygarchy and he looked at the studies of power within local communities, he found that societies in the USA were controlled by alternating rival elites with different interests, but despite this some legitimate groups did manage to have some input into the government so therefore the claim to being a democratic society was upheld.
Pluralism is a political philosophy, developed by British liberals and socialists in the early 20thc. Pluralism was developed from the desirability to diffuse sovereign power widely amongst a variety of social institutions, religious, educational and cultural so that state or single class would not dominate society
Pluralists saw, small closely-knit groups as the natural form of association and the best defence of natural rights. Individuals should organise themselves into formal groups to bring pressure to bear on the government through strength in numbers. Modern pluralists however recognize that not everyone can or would want to be involved in politics and might prefer a more passive role or rely on others to act on their behalf.
In pluralist philosophy the state was to have reduced scope and was to act as a fair and neutral mediator between conflicting interests. Pluralism is thought to have enhanced democracy, because power is equally distributed amongst competing groups and the individuals within those groups can play a part in lobbying government to change laws and policies for the greater good of society.
Bibliography
Class notes and handouts
Redhead. Brian Plato to Nato, studies in political thought. BBC Penguin books. 1995