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re: Hierarchies and Robert Michels (Harry Papasotiriou, Greece) (John Eipper, USA, 09/19/10 3:31 am)

Harry Papasotiriou responds to Jon Kofas's recent comments on hierarchy:

About one hundred years ago the disillusioned leftist German sociologist Robert Michels formulated the 'iron law of oligarchy,' according to which any organization entails an oligarchy at the top. He came to this conclusion by observing that the European Socialist parties at the time (early 20th century) were every bit as dominated by their leaderships as the conservative parties. His book on political parties, published in 1911, is a classic.

JE comments: And Europe had no shortage of "iron laws" post-1911! Interestingly, Michels joined Mussolini's Fascist party after WWI and spent his final years (he died in 1936) as a professor at the University of Perugia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Michels

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