Economic Elites’ Attitudes Toward Meritocracy in Chile: A Moral Economy Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1219-1241
Author(s):  
Jorge Atria ◽  
Juan Castillo ◽  
Luis Maldonado ◽  
Simón Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
National Development ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
High Level

We analyze economic elites’ perceptions and beliefs about meritocracy from a moral economy perspective. A moral economy perspective considers how norms and beliefs structure socioeconomic practices through the constitution and expression of what is considered acceptable, proper, and legitimate. Our study explores how economic elites make sense of the roles of talent and effort in the distribution of resources and how they reconcile the idea of meritocracy within a rigid social order. The site of our study is Chile, a country with fluid mobility between low and middle classes, but with high and persistent disparities and strong barriers to elite positions. We conducted 44 semistructured interviews with shareholders, board members, and high-level executives of large or high-turnover companies in three major Chilean cities. We find that the economic elite strongly support meritocracy but explain access to top positions based on talent rather than effort. The economic elite define talent in terms of business and leadership skills. They attribute upward mobility in the private sector to meritocratic practice. At the same time, they view the public sector as the epitome of nonmeritocratic practices, incompetence, and inefficiency. They profess empathy with the poor, but they reject redistributive policies. The economic elite believe in the primacy of competition in economic life and the necessity of continual economic growth, and thus, they understand meritocracy as both the means to survive in a market economy and a responsible approach to lead national development.

scholarly journals Howard Robinson and the “British Method”: A Case Study of Britishness in Canada during the 1930s and 1940s

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Don Nerbas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Social Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
World War ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
Key Aspects

Abstract During the 1930s and 1940s economic crisis and world war in Canada worked to erode the persistent ideological claim that government best played a largely hands-off role in social and economic life. For Howard P. Robinson (1874–1950), a Saint John, New Brunswick, newspaper owner and capitalist, this trend was part of a broader challenge to what he believed was the British tradition in Canada. Subscribing to a sense of Britishness that was both racialist and imperialist, he believed the strict maintenance of social order and laissez-faire philosophy to be key aspects of the British tradition. Increasingly, however, the rising tide of social democracy and economic and cultural integration with the United States made Robinson’s worldview anachronistic within the outlook of the Canadian bourgeoisie. Robinson’s position was not without its contradictions, but his enduring sense of Britishness provides an archetypal case study of the mentalité of a conservative member of Canada’s economic élite during a time of significant changes.

scholarly journals Economic elites and the constitutional design of sharing political power

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Paniagua ◽  
Jan P. Vogler
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Resource Diversity

AbstractWhat explains the emergence and persistence of institutions aimed at preventing any ruling group from using the state apparatus to advance particularistic interests? To answer this recurring question, a burgeoning literature examines the establishment of power-sharing institutions in societies divided by ethnic or religious cleavages. Going beyond existing scholarly work focused on these specific settings, we argue that political power-sharing institutions can also be the result of common disputes within the economic elite. We propose that these institutions are likely to emerge and persist when competition between elite factions with dissimilar economic interests is balanced. To address the possibility of endogeneity between elite configurations and public institutions, we leverage natural resource diversity as an instrument for elite configurations. We show that, where geological resources are more diverse, competition between similarly powerful economic groups is more likely to emerge, leading ultimately to the establishment of power-sharing mechanisms that allow elite groups to protect their diverging economic interests.

Can Russia Fight Organized Crime and Corruption?

2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-55
Author(s):  
Louise I. Shelley
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
High Level ◽  
Personal Interests

The murder of Valentin Tsvetkov, the governor of Magadan in central Moscow in broad day light in October 2002 highlights that organized crime and corruption are still alive and well and highly destructive of life and governance in Russia (Wines, 2002). His murder once again raises the question, “Why has Russia not been able to stop organized crime and high level corruption?” The answer is that Russia docs not have the political will at the national, regional or local level to fight these problems. This is true because the Kremlin and economic elite push their personal interests over those of the state and the society. Structural problems such as low salaries of state personnel and the embedding of organized crime and corruption make reform very difficult.

Social identification with the “Yellow Vests”: An exploratory study in France.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Barbier ◽  
Grégory Lo Monaco ◽  
Sylvain Delouvée
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The People ◽  
Full Swing ◽  
New Social Order

The present study was carried out in December, 2018 and aimed at exploring the “Yellow Vests” movement when the revolts were in full swing. It involved 260 French participants (Mage = 42.9 years, SDage 14.6, Min = 18 to Max = 88). Results confirmed our hypotheses. The people who most identified with the “Yellow Vests” are those who perceive the system to be less fair and more illegitimate, and who express more dissatisfaction with the democratic regime and are generally more politically cynical. They feel more alienated and affirm that they would be more likely to resort to violence in order to introduce a new social order. They adhere more to conspiracy theories. Finally, we found greater identification of the “Yellow Vests” with extreme compared to moderate political parties. We discuss these results from the defence of the moral economy principle.

scholarly journals Urbanization, Work and Community: The Logic of City Life in the Contemporary World

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen J. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Urban Society ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Composite Pattern ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
High Level ◽  
The City

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> I initiate the discussion with a statement about cognitive-cultural capitalism and its concentration in large global cities. This is followed by an argument to the effect that the specificity of the city resides in the manner in which the diverse social phenomena that it contains are brought into a composite pattern of spatial integration. With these preliminaries in mind, I examine the economic structure of the city in cognitive-cultural capitalism, with special reference to the emergence of a new division of labor and the changing configuration of intra-urban production space. This account leads directly to consideration of the restratification of urban society and its effects on neighborhood development and social life. The final section of the paper picks up on the notion of the Common in cognitive-cultural capitalism and offers some speculative remarks regarding the implications of this phenomenon for the economic and social order of cities.</p><p><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> Historical and geographical narrative combined with appeals to the theory of political economy.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> Cognitive-cultural capitalism is emerging as a dominant force of social and economic change in the twenty-first century. This trend is also evident in new patterns of urbanization that are emerging on all five continents. These patterns reflect dramatic shifts in the structure of urban production systems and the significant restratification of urban society that has been occurring as a consequence.</p><p><strong>Research Limitation/implication:</strong> The paper is pitched at a high level of conceptual abstraction. Detailed empirical investigation/testing of the main theoretical points outlined in the paper is urgently called for.</p><p><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The paper offers an overall theoretical synthesis of the interrelationships between cognitive-cultural capitalism and processes of urbanization.</p>

scholarly journals An Assessment of the Reliability of the NIGNET Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
E. G. Ayodele ◽  
C. J. Okolie ◽  
O. A. Mayaki
Keyword(s):  
National Development ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Positional Accuracy ◽  
Data Archiving ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Gnss Network ◽  
High Level ◽  
Gnss Data ◽  
Geodetic Reference Frame

The Nigerian Geodetic Reference Frame is defined by a number of Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) that constitute the Nigerian GNSS Network (NIGNET). NIGNET is essential for planning and national development with the main goal of ensuring consistency in the geodetic framework both nationally and internationally. Currently, the strength of the network in terms of data reliability has not been adequately studied due to the fact that research into CORS in Nigeria is just evolving, which constitutes a limitation in its applications. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the reliability of the 3-dimensional coordinates of NIGNET to inform usability and adequacy for both scientific and practical applications. In particular, this study examines if the 3-dimensional coordinates of NIGNET are equally reliable in terms of positional accuracy. Accordingly, this study utilised GNSS data collected over a period of six years (2011 – 2016) from the network to compute the daily geocentric coordinates of the stations. Exploratory and statistical data analysis techniques were used to understand the magnitude of the errors and the accuracy level in the 3-dimensional coordinates. For this purpose, accuracy metrics such as standard deviation (𝜎), standard error (𝑆𝐸) and root mean square error (RMSE) were computed. While One-way ANOVA was conducted to explore the coordinate differences. The results obtained showed that SE and RMSE ranged from 13.00 − 56.50𝑚𝑚 and 14.38 − 73.16𝑚𝑚 respectively, which signifies high accuracy. Overall, while 88% of the network showed a high level of positional accuracy, the reliability has been compromised due to excessive gaps in the data archiving. Therefore, due attention must be given to NIGNET to achieve its purpose in the provision of accurate information for various geospatial applications. Also, any efforts directed at understanding the practical implications of NIGNET must be well-embraced for the realization of its set objectives.

scholarly journals Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 564-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Gilens ◽  
Benjamin I. Page
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Organized Interest

Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics—which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, and two types of interest-group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism—offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented.A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 158-164
Author(s):  
Marie Muschalek
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Community Or ◽  
Social Composition ◽  
The Everyday

This concluding chapter offers some reflections on the nature of everyday violence in colonial Africa. Coming from multiple cultural groups, the African and German men of the Landespolizei shared a host of moral codes that can best be subsumed under the heading of honor. This study reveals significant similarities between policemen from Europe and those from Southern Africa. Out of the Landespolizei's distinctive racial and social composition unfolded a dynamic that made the police decidedly efficacious. Instead of a grand narrative of quantified violence, the chapter draws out the lives of people getting by, living with violence in the everyday. It tries to uncover how the dynamics of violence were inscribed into a moral economy of the accepted and normal. The chapter concludes that violence is not necessarily antithetical to community or social order. Indeed, it can be constructive. The daily brutality of modern colonialism was a horrific injustice. But it was also a way of life with its own rules and regularities.

Sovereign Debt and the Right to Development

2018 ◽  
pp. 248-266
Author(s):  
Gail Hurley
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Task Force ◽  
National Development ◽  
Country Ownership ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
The Right ◽  
High Level ◽  
Regional Partnerships

The right to development is an over-arching, synthesis-based collective right that has found a solid place in the international human rights architecture. Under the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, States have the primary responsibility for establishing national and international conditions favourable to the realisation of the right to development. According to the high-level task force on the implementation of the right to development, this responsibility is at three levels: (a) States acting collectively in global and regional partnerships; (b) States acting individually as they adopt and implement policies that affect persons strictly not within their jurisdiction, and (c) States acting individually as they formulate national development policies and programmes affecting persons within their jurisdiction. The right to development also implies the full realisation of the right of peoples to self-determination. In many contexts, however, onerous debt service obligations and related conditionalities often undermine country ownership of national development strategies, thereby threatening the right to development.

The Disruptive Presence of the Namban-jin in Early Modern Japan

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 581-602
Author(s):  
Alexandra Curvelo
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
The South ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
First Time ◽  
Folding Screens

Abstract When the Portuguese arrived in Japan around 1543, it was the first time in the history of the archipelago that Western foreigners had entered the country and settled there. These “barbarians from the south” (namban-jin) were considered strangers and viewed with curiosity and suspicion. In Tokugawa Japan (c. 1615-1868), politically marked by territorial unification and the centralization of power, the image of the Europeans that was created and visually registered on folding screens and lacquer-ware was used as a model to frame this presence by both the Japanese political and economic elites and those considered marginal to the existing social order. Namban art, especially paintings, can be seen as a visual display of Japan’s self-knowledge and its knowledge of distant “neighbours.”

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