Researching Organizational Elites: A Critical Realist Perspective

Abstract

This chapter reviews three analytical perspectives – ‘structural’, ‘network’ and ‘cultural’ – on the study of power and their implications for theorizing elites. It builds on this initial theoretical review by developing a critical realist approach to the study of organizational elites out of the structurally based perspective identified in the first section of the chapter. The explanatory potential of this critical realist approach is then illustrated through two case studies of ruling elites embedded in contrasting historical, political and social contexts. The final section of the chapter provides a discussion of the wider implications of these case study analyses for understanding and explaining the ‘new feudalism’ which is emerging in advanced political economies and societies.

Citation

Reed, M. (2012), "Researching Organizational Elites: A Critical Realist Perspective", Courpasson, D., Golsorkhi, D. and Sallaz, J.J. (Ed.) Rethinking Power in Organizations, Institutions, and Markets (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 34), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 21-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2012)0000034004