Power or Authority?

This article clarifies the concepts of power and authority through a critical examination of elite and ruling class models of power. In general, the theories characteristic of the elite model tend to incorporate the notion that the structure of relations in the political realm is hierarchical. Those who occupy positions at the top of the structure do so by virtue of the fact that they possess certain resources--skills, talents, etc.--which are valued in the system. In the case of Pareto, these positions are allocated through the democratic process. This is in itself a grant of legitimacy. The resources which provided access to these positions constitute, in light of the above definitions, forms of power, and consequently different power relationships. It has been noted that the elitist doctrine is concerned with determining who governs in the political system, and each theory representative of this model postulates that the right to govern is a function of position in the hierarchical structure. it is clear that in light of the above distinction between power and authority, the focus of attention is on authority relations. Elite theory, however, goes one step further and hypothesizes a relationship between incumbency in a position in an authority system and the acquisition or formation of power.