POLI 100E, Interest Group Politics: Topics 3 and 4

The Flies in the Ointment

1. The Middle and Upper Class Bias of Group Membership
   
   "The flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly
   chorus sings with a strong upper class accent." (E. E.
   Schattschneider, The SemiSovereign People, p. 35.)
   
   
2. A necessary condition for Pluralism is that Social
   Choice be Multi-Dimensional.
   
   

Note that the enthusiasm for Pluralism in the 1950s and 1960s
in Political Science coincides with the nadir of polarization.

The de-emphasis of ideology by the Pluralists reflected
the view of many intellectuals. A Sociologist, Daniel Bell,
published his influential book The End of Ideology in 1961.