that exercises the
dominant role in politics, economy and government. By contrast, the pluralist
model
is a view of society in which many conflicting groups within a
community have access to governmental officials and compete with one another
in an attempt to influence policy decisions.
Without question, the pluralist and elite models have little in common and
each describes a dramatically different distribution of power. Yet, each model
offers an accurate picture of the political life in contemporary society. Power in
various areas rests in the hands of a small number of citizens (elite view),
yet within contemporary society there are a great number of political institutions
and agencies with differing ideas and interests (pluralist model). Thus, we
may end this discussion with one common point of the elite and pluralist
perspective – power in a contemporary political system is unequally distributed;
all citizens may be equal in theory, yet those high in a nation's power structure
are «more equal».
