Elites and Society

Esta pesquisa procura investigar dois processos: a formação e consolidação de uma elite local e a relação do poder local com a monarquia e sua administração periférica, na tentativa de destacar a profunda conexão entre esses dois desenvolvimentos. A área escolhida para estudo é a Bahia no século XVII, em razão de sua crescente importância dentro do mundo português ao longo do século, mas sempre em perspectiva comparativa, colocando-a dentro de um quadro atlântico mais amplo. Para isso analisou-se o desenvolvimento econômico da capitania, as especificidades de sua sociedade escravista, as características individuais e familiares dos membros da elite, suas formas de auto-identificação, sua relação com os governadores-gerais e a Coroa. As fontes utilizadas foram diversificadas, embora majoritariamente de natureza administrativa, e organizadas em diferentes bancos de dados. Procurou-se destacar o contínuo processo de “fazer-se” da elite nessas diversas dimensões, assim como a forte interdependência entre Coroa e elites.

The personalities and biographies of the young gentlemen both reflect and influence, at the same time, the variety and the dynamics of the Italian aristocratic world in the eighteenth century. According to a commonplace of the time, masterfully developed in the poem Il giorno (The Day) of Giuseppe Parini, the scions of aristocratic families are often lazy, narcissist and effeminate dandies. Many unpublished archival sources of different provenances allow to specify the reasons and the effective historical role of this social phenomenon. But above all, they help to clarify similarities and differences in attitudes and customs of the «giovin signori» (young noblemen) of the Peninsula and the major adjacent islands during the last century of the Old Regime. Thus, in light of their family relationships, their cultural background, their progressive integration into the «gran mondo» (high society), the young aristocrats are manifested in the concreteness of their experience and in the reality of their class membership.

Traditional scholarship has argued that during the fourth and fifth centuries the waning Roman Empire came to rely to a large extent on recruits of foreign, barbarian origin for its defence. Such a pro-barbarian recruitment policy resulted in the weakening and collapse of Roman military capability in the West, and in the fragmentation and disappearance of the Western Roman state. The article reexamines the " barbarization " theory, following models postulated by M. J. Nicasie and Hugh Elton, as well as the recent results of identity studies focusing on the ancient world. By using the concept of the " barbarian " in political, rather than ethnic terms, the article presents the " barbarization " process not as a prime suspect for the empire's fall, but as another way for the Roman state to maximize its resources and bolster its defences.

In this introductory essay to our special issue on elites, we outline some of the major challenges to research in this area and propose a series of theoretical and methodological pathways to address them. Theoretically we make four recommendations: (a) greater attentiveness to and specificity about the relationship between elites and power; (b) a clearer articulation of the relationships between elites and the varieties of capitalism; (c) far more attention to diversity within elites and the use of elites to understand forms of domination like white supremacy and masculine domination and (d) expanding beyond the orthodox form of Bourdieusian theoretical frameworks. Methodologically we outline how research using survey instruments, social network analysis (SNA) (and multiple correspondence analysis), interviews, ethnographic observation, experiments, archival research, administrative data and content analysis can each be deployed, built upon or redirected to help bring elites into greater focus.

The 20th Century revolved politically around competing interpretations of Capitalism, Communism, Socialism and Fascism. These are all ways to organize the lives of people on a large scale. Are real alternatives or new interpretations likely to emerge in the challenging years ahead? What might they look like?

Corrupt exchanges are often brokered by a third party, but this phenomenon has not been satisfactorily explored by researchers of corruption. Literature on brokerage in general provides interesting models but they have not previously been applied to corrupt exchanges. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with respondents who participated in actual corrupt transactions, this paper identifies several distinct brokerage types in low-level corruption in contemporary Hungary. The paper also provides explanation of variation in corruption brokerage in terms of actors' group affiliations, forms of the corrupt exchanges, brokerage mechanisms, as well as neutrality, benefit and motivation, risk distribution, and stability of the brokerage structure. Finally, we discuss some policy implications of corruption brokerage.

Manin se pregunta en su texto sobre la “Metamorfosis de la Representación”,  cuál es el lazo representativo entre los representantes y los representados, o en otras palabras, entre gobernantes y gobernados. A su vez, el politólogo francés se pregunta si estos lazos son sólidos, y si pueden dar cuenta de un vínculo entre estas dos partes. En una primera aproximación, Manin dirá que no.

El autor realiza su aporte a través del estudio de tres casos de gobierno(s) representativo(s): Inglaterra, Francia y los Estados Unidos. Sobre estos campos de estudio, Manin analizará sus experiencias políticas, para dar cuenta de los problemas de la representación política y de la actual crisis de la representatividad, que para el autor, es una característica de nuestro tiempo.

En el Livro Velho de Linhagem de 1270 se dice que la nobleza portuguesa procede de los infanzones leoneses que en tiempos de Alfonso VI de León reconquistaron la región. De ellos se destacarían los Ricoshomes, por lo extenso de sus propiedades y de los que surgirían los Condes, como órganos jurisdiccionales, y el resto serían los Infançoes, a su vez divididos en cavaleiros, escudeyros y moços según el grado de adscripción militar.
Las primeras manifestaciones heráldicas aparecieron en Portugal, a finales del siglo XIII, entre los grandes linajes como forma de destacar sus vínculos de sangre. Costumbre iniciada por las grandes familias que se fue generalizando entre nobres y cavaleiros,  que adoptaron brasaos como distintivo personal.

La nobleza austriaca (Österreichischer Adel) presenta en su formación similitudes con la nobleza germánica del Sacro Romano Imperio, al que Austria perteneció durante largos siglos (1273/1806). Sin embargo, se diferencia esencialmente de ella en que en Austria solo hubo un ente soberano, el Duque y después Archiduque, en el que durante siglos recayó también la corona imperial. El Archiduque era la máxima autoridad y a él debía lealtad toda la nobleza austriaca, ya que no existieron nunca dentro de sus tierras entes dotados de soberanía propia, como era frecuente en otras partes del Imperio.La antigua nobleza de cuño feudal dependía de él por un pacto de vasallaje, mientras que él tenía la exclusividad de crear nuevos nobles mediante una Adelsbrief (Carta de Nobleza). Así se sucedieron los ennoblecimientos desde 1453 a 1918

Focusing exclusively on external forces risks producing an over-generalized account of a ubiquitous neoliberalism, which insufficiently accounts for the profusion of local variegations that currently comprise the neoliberal project as a series of articulations with existing political economic circumstances. Although neoliberal economics were initially promoted in the global south through the auspices of structural adjustment programs designed by the International Financial Institutions, powerful global south elites were only too happy to oblige. Neoliberalism frequently reveals opportunities for well-connected government officials to informally control market and material rewards, allowing them to easily line their own pockets. It is in this sense of the local appropriation of neoliberal ideas that scholars must go beyond conceiving of ‘neoliberalism-in-general’ as a singular and fully realized policy regime, ideological form, or regulatory framework, and work towards conceiving a plurality of ‘actually existing neoliberalisms’ with particular characteristics arising from mutable geohistorical outcomes that are embedded within national, regional, and local process of market-driven socio-spatial transformation. What constitutes ‘actually existing’ neoliberalism in Cambodia as distinctly Cambodian is the ways in which the patronage system has allowed local elites to co-opt, transform, and (re)articulate neoliberal reforms through a framework that ‘asset strips’ public resources, thereby increasing peoples’ exposure to corruption, coercion, and violence. It is to such an 'articulation agenda' that this article attends, as in seeking to provide a more nuanced reading to recent work on neoliberalism in Cambodia by outlining some of its salient characteristics, I reveal a more empirical basis to theorizations of ‘articulated neoliberalism’.

During the Early Iron Age (ca. 950–720 bc) Nuragic Sardinia experienced the rise of monumental public sanctuaries. This study addresses the formation of the votive record in sanctuaries in order to explore the relationship between socio-economic control and the ritual dynamics of legitimation of authority. In Nuragic sanctuaries, large amounts of wealth were collected in the form of significant accumulations of bronze objects. The accumulation of metal objects in sanctuaries probably reflects a model of elite-controlled wealth redistribution. It is argued that the rise of sanctuaries is part of a planned ‘ritual strategy’, put in action by Nuragic elites, in order to pursue ideological legitimation to their claims for hegemony. The subject is set within a proposal of a general redefinition of the Nuragic Early Iron Age, making it possible to propose a contextualization of the local phenomenon within the contemporary western Mediterranean framework.

Desde la independencia hispanoamericana, los políticos continentales llevaron una vida intensa, afanosa y, en ocasiones contradictoria, en sus luchas por el poder. En diferentes circunstancias, actuaron como militares, periodistas, diplomáticos, abogados, profesores o escritores. Sus vidas simbolizan la antigua confrontación entre liberalismo y conservadurismo; centralismo y federalismo, cuyo destino dejó una impronta en el balance de poder regional. Este libro tiene como objetivo general introducirse a ese mundo de los políticos hispanoamericanos, y los problemas de la historia política continental del primer siglo de vida independiente, en particular en la región del Río de la Plata.

Focusing on the battle between democrats and their opponents does not provide a satisfying way to explain the political trajectories of the former Soviet states. A more useful approach is neopatrimonialism. From this perspective, we can explain the colored revolutions as elite-led efforts by rent-seeking entrepreneurs to resist increased pressure placed on them by neopatrimonial states.

El Imperio del Brasil, durante los 68 años que duró (1822/1889) , organizó su propia nobleza con unas características muy diferentes a las existentes en otras monarquías. Pues los ´titulos nobiliarios no generaban nobleza al modo europeo, ni eran transmisibles a sus herederos.
También generó un sistema heráldico, muy distinto del portugués, con unas características propias. Ya que ambos, títulos y blasones recuerdan al sistema instituido por Napoleón.

"Se queremos que tudo fique como está
é preciso que tudo mude."


O leitmotif da obra de Tomasi de Lampedusa, imortalizada no grande ecrã pela objectiva de Visconti, sintetiza a sua ideia central, acerca do declínio das antigas elites, em particular da aristocracia, a favor da ascensão das classes médias, a partir da segunda metade do século XIX e a forma como uma facção daquela procurou, sem sucesso, manter a sua posição.
O tema da presente dissertação é precisamente o da evolução da Aristocracia em Portugal, em concreto da Casa Palmela, no contexto do Liberalismo, com maior precisão, no período que medeia entre 1810 e 1887, datas que, como veremos, reflectem a cronologia ditada pela própria evolução da Casa e também pelos rumos da nacionalidade.


"If we want everything to stay as it is
everything must change."


The leitmotif of Tomasi de Lampedusa's work, immortalized on the big screen by Visconti's lens, sums up his central idea of the decline of the old elites, particularly of the aristocracy, in favor of the rise of the middle classes from the second half of the century, and the way a faction of it sought, unsuccessfully, to maintain its position.
The theme of this dissertation is precisely that of the evolution of the Aristocracy in Portugal, specifically of Casa Palmela, in the context of Liberalism, with greater precision, in the period between 1810 and 1887, dates that, as we shall see, reflect the chronology dictated by own evolution of the House and also by the paths of nationality.

Leandro Losada (IEHS-IGEHCS/ CONICET) introducción El propósito central de este trabajo es identificar y presentar las tendencias generales por las cuales se constituyó una elite social en la Argentina, es decir, un grupo social cuyos integrantes compartieron, además de una posición preeminente, una identidad de pertenencia. Este proceso no fue rápido ni sencillo: dicha elite se conformó recién en la década de 1880, momento que, a su vez, abrió el período de su mayor esplendor, extendido hasta mediados de la década de 1910.

"ABSTRACT: This study provides an empirically based analysis of corrupt governmental networks. We conducted 45 interviews in Hungary with different organizational actors who were actually participating in corrupt transactions or at least had first-hand
experiences of corruption. Given the secret nature of the topic, this article provides a unique insight into the phenomenon. Our findings show that corrupt elite cliques consciously design and coordinate multilevel structures of corrupt networks within and among organizations that involve a large amount of people. We identified the major network elements and their functions in corrupt transactions. The article also provides a typology of corrupt networks. The networks have different structural characteristics based on location of the ‘‘cash cows,’’ points from where the system is fed, and the actors’ positions of power. Our findings are compared with the already existing literature on dark networks, terrorist, and organized crime formations."

Ouvrage disponible en libre accès sur la page de l'éditeur : https://books.openedition.org/momeditions/193

En Égypte ancienne, la mort semble être une préoccupation constante. Pour affronter cette étape tant redoutée, le dogme prévoit une existence dans l'au-delà, mais celle-ci demeure conditionnée au maintien de la mémoire des individus parmi les vivants. Chaque personne va donc tenter, en fonction de son statut et de ses capacités, de développer certaines stratégies pour rendre son propre culte éternel et garantir ainsi son immortalité.
Cette étude, fondée principalement sur l'analyse des pratiques post-inhumatoires, souhaite mettre en évidence les différents leviers qui sont utilisés en vue de pérenniser les cultes mémoriels : le choix du lieu, celui des supports et enfin – peut-être surtout – l'intégration à de multiples matrices sociales complémentaires. Car le maintien de la mémoire est avant tout affaire de société. L'individu, pour exister, se doit d'interagir avec la communauté, qu'il soit vivant ou bien mort.

Las circunstancias históricas hicieron que coexistiera una doble oligarquía: Adeldon (Nobleza) y Patriciaat (Patriciado). La conversión de las Provincias Unidas en una república no afectó a las instituciones feudales de las diversas provincias. En ellas se mantuvo su nobleza local, cuyo origen se remontaba a los Duques de Borgoña. . Se trataba de una nobleza de cuño feudal, formada por Condes, Barones y Caballeros, asentada en sus propiedades agrarias que ejercía su poder a través de los Ridderschap. A ella se unió una nobleza de facto, el Patriciado, formada por las principales familias burguesas, cuyos miembros monopolizaban las instituciones de gobierno y los ayuntamientos de la antigua República, constituyendo las Regenten families, cuyos privilegios y dominio público se sucedía de padres a hijos.
El rey Guillermo I constituyó en 1815 el Hoge Raad van Adel entre cuyas competencias estaba el homogeneizar el sistema heráldico del país que estaba reservado a la nobleza, especialmente en cuanto sus competencias sobre la elaboración y reproducción de los blasones de la nobleza, así como los nacionales, cívicos e institucionales.

1 imAxw xr niswt-bit Haa-ib-ra mry bAw iwnw 2 (i)m(y)-rA prwy-HD wr swnw 3 aA n xA (i)m(y)-rA pr-wr p(Ay=) f-TAw-(m)-a(wy)-nt 1 The imAxw before the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Haaibre, beloved of the bAw of Heliopolis, 2 the overseer of the two houses of silver, the chief physician, 3 the great one of the xA-hall, and the high steward, P(ay)eftjau(em)a(wy) neith. 1 imAxw xr sA ra wAH-ib-ra di anx mi ra Dt 2 (i)m(y)-rA prwy-HD wr swnw 3 aA n xA (i)m(y)-rA pr-wr p(Ay=)f-TAw-(m)-a(wy)-nt 1 The imAxw before the Son-of-Re, Wahibre, given life like Re forever, 2 the overseer of the two houses of silver, the chief physician, 3 the great one of the xA-hall, the high steward, P(ay)eftjau(em)a(wy)neith. Fig. 1 EA 83, front (© the Trustees of the British Museum) Fig. 2 EA 83, front, between hands (© the Trustees of the British Museum)

Research on late antique and early medieval economic and social processes during the past three decades called for, and enabled, a fresh look at the history of the 'Late Avar period' of the Carpathian Basin, corresponding exactly to the 'long eighth century' of the Mediterranean and European world. This paper offers a rather sketchy new model, alongside raising questions and framing a research programme focusing on social and economic historical processes. Therefore, using the archaeological evidence as a solid foundation, I have proposed a set of research hypotheses as starting points for regional and micro-regional studies.

Los Validos nunca fueron bien considerados por los historiadores, esta animadversión se debe en gran parte a la trascendental inquina que contra ellos tuvieron sus propios coetáneos, por considerar que por sus malas artes habían ascendido a una situación de deslumbrante prepotencia, sin otro título para ello que su habilidad para ganarse y conservar el favor real.
Hoy en día existe una corriente historiográfica que trata de reconocer la labor desempeñada por privados y validos, en las diversas monarquías europeas, facilitando el transito desde una monarquía personalista de cuño medieval a un estado moderno.

En 2011, por diversos motivos, la reflexión sobre las elites chilenas se ha impuesto como ejercicio casi obligado, tras dos décadas de duradero silencio sobre ellas. En efecto, exceptuando un puñado de trabajos elaborados por historiadores sobre las elites políticas, intelectuales y culturales, el resto de las ciencias sociales se ha mostrado prácticamente indiferente, o si se quiere entre muda y ciega, ante estos grupos de hombres (y unas pocas mujeres) notables bajo algún aspecto, y sobre todo dominantes. Si bien es posible citar, como prueba de interés y de puntual desmentido a la indiferencia, el libro de María Angélica Thumala sobre una fracción religiosa de la elite empresarial, 1 una que otra tesis de grado o de magíster 2 o el reciente libro colectivo que dirigí junto a Pedro Güell, 3 y una década antes el ensayo de Eugenio Tironi en donde las elites son mostradas de modo elíptico, casi en forma de degradé respecto de otros grupos sociales, 4 no parece discutible la acusación de renuncia de las ciencias sociales por dilucidar la racionalidad del poder a través del estudio de los agentes que lo detentan.

These poems, composed in Somali and in English, provide a poetic reflection of the recently emerged debate on the theme of Caddaan Studies which means "White Studies". The criticism and counter-criticism contained in the debate dug so deep into life nerve of Somali Studies that over a thousand people participated. The poems, under the title "Inaugurating Caddaan Studies" were composed with a critical observation of the debate.

Un aspecto notorio de la historia argentina es la carencia de legitimidad de sus elites. La historiografía ha tratado este problema destacando dos puntos: las tensiones internas de las elites y el igualitarismo de la sociedad argentina, uno de sus rasgos singulares en el contexto latinoamericano. En este artículo se propone otro argumento. Se plantea que las falencias de legitimación de las elites tuvieron como razón de fondo la manera en que se desplegó la construcción de ‘aristocracias naturales’, problema central de las sociedades modernas. A lo largo del siglo XIX, este proceso se dio a través de operaciones simbólicas y no mediante la representación política. Es decir, las formas en que se reflexionó sobre la representación política no ofrecieron fundamentaciones consistentes del papel de las elites en la sociedad democrática. Se argumenta, entonces, que este aspecto es importante para pensar la problemática historia de las elites en la Argentina. Y, a partir de ello, una clave para reflexionar sobre la sinuosa historia de su democracia.

Our understanding of metalsmiths during the Protohistoric period has been developed mainly through the study of their endproducts. As a complementary source of information, the study of the structure of production [the workshop as a working place, the study of the wastes produced and the range of tools] enables also the characterisation of the activity of the workmen while it illustrates the organisation of their work as well as their daily life.
As such, it would seem essential to characterise the features linked to metal craft between the end of the first Iron Age to the beginning of the second Iron Age. During this period the concentration of power is particularly noticeable within the funerary world where the aristocraty is particularly apparent.
This is also a time where settlements on hills and their faubourgs are reoccupied and refortified becoming real centres of power. They are regarded as the home of the elite but also as centres of craft production.
In this context of a society growing more complex, it seems interesting to attempt to precise the role and definition of the elite members as well as perhaps that of the artisans, in order to approach the nature of their relationship, during this period of deep mutation.

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Mesa 7: Grupos sociales (siglos XIX-XX): prácticas, representaciones, identidades y conflictos Autor: Mateo García Haymes Inserción institucional: UNQ / UdeSA / CONICET Dirección particular: [email protected] Situación de revista: Becario doctoral de Tipo II-CONICET Título:

Los comerciantes vikingos solían identificar sus asentamientos mediante unas grandes piedras gravadas con sus runas, dando origen a los bomerkes o marcas de propiedad realizadas con caracteres rúnicos, gravados sobre la madera o a las puertas de sus casas. Estas marcas serían llevadas por los navegantes vikingos a Rusia y Polonia por la Ruta de los Varegos. Estos Bomerkes constituyen las primeras manifestaciones heráldicas de Escandia, inspirando también a las runas rusas y las thamgas polacas origen de sus respectivas heráldicas.