Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-20T23:28:18.599Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Elitism in Democracy

Du Bois, Nietzsche, and the Role of Elites for the Common Good

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2021

Stephen Graves
Stephen Graves*
Affiliation:
Department of Black Studies, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The concept of the common good represents those resources that are good for an entire group as a whole, or what preserves what the people or inhabitants of the national community have in common. The “good” are those things that benefit the community as a whole; lead to the protection, sustainment, and improvement of the community. Theorists agree that it is the ultimate end of government; the good of all its citizens and void of special interests. Theories of the common good are discussed in this paper with implications regarding the shortcomings of democratic political institutions and structures. The theoretical framework provided by the political thought of W. E. B. Du Bois and Friedrich Nietzsche are used to critically examine the idea of the common good in contemporary democratic societies. Du Bois sought an objective truth that could dispel once and for all the irrational prejudices and ignorances that stood in the way of a just social order for African Americans. Nietzsche’s political theory was primarily concerned with disdain for democracy and the need for Aristocratic forms and social ordering. He was skeptical that with the demise of religion, it would be possible to achieve an effective normative consensus in society at large which is needed to legitimize government authority. Both theorists agree that the exceptional and great individuals are few in society and should govern in favor of the masses. Based on their example, this paper argues that both authors are suggesting an Epistocratic form of government where those with political knowledge are privileged.

Keywords

Common GoodNietzscheDu BoisDemocracyLeadershipEpistocracyElitism
Type
State of the Discourse
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Fall 2022 , pp. 381 - 397
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hutchins Center for African and African American Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Annenberg Public Policy Center for American Progress (2017). Americans are Poorly Informed about Basic Constitutional Provisions. https://cdn.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Civics-survey-Sept-2017-complete.pdf (accessed October 14, 2021).Google Scholar
Althaus, Scott (2003). Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appel, Frederick (1999). Nietzsche Contra Democracy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aquinas, Thomas (2003). On Law, Morality, and Politics. 2nd Edition. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Classics.Google Scholar
Bartells, Larry (2005). Economic Inequality and Political Representation. In Jacobs, Lawrence and King, Desmond (Eds.), The Unsustainable American State, pp. 167–197. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bertelson Bernard, R., Lazarsfeld, Paul F., and McPhee, William N. (1954). Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Brennan, Jason (2016). Against Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bridges, John Henry (2010). The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon. New York: Cambridge University Press Google Scholar
Caplan, Bryan (2007). The Myth of The Rational Voter. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Philip E., Miller, Warren E., and Stokes, Donald E. (1960). The American Voter. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Converse, Phillip (1964). The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics. Critical Review, 18(1-3), 1–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, Robert (2005). On Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael (2003). Black Visions: The Root of Contemporary African-American Political Ideologies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Delli, Carpini, Michael, X., and Keeter, Scott (1996). What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diggs, B. J. (1973). The Common Good as Reason for Political Action. Ethics, 83(4): 283–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolhenty, Jonathan (2014). Individualism and the Common Good. Self-Educated American. https://selfeducatedamerican.com/2014/06/02/individualism-and-the-common-good/ (accessed August 25, 2021).Google Scholar
Drochon, Hugo (2018). Nietzsche’s Great Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1968). Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept. New York: Schocken Books.Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1969). Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil. New York: Schocken Books.Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1969). The Souls of Black Folk. New York: New American Library.Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1971). The Seventh Son, Vol. 2: The Thought and Writings of W. E. B. Du Bois. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2007). Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880. Gates, Henry Louis (Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2014). The Talented Tenth. Kindle edition. Heraklion Press.Google Scholar
Elff, Martin (2008). Social Divisions, Political Sophistication, and Political Equality in Comparative Perspective. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA 2008 Annual Meeting, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts. http://www.elff.eu/pdf/Elff-DivisionsSophisticationEquality.pdf (accessed August 25, 2021).Google Scholar
Fagothey, Austin (1990). Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice. 9 th Edition. New York: Pearson.Google Scholar
Fiske, Susan T., Donald, R., and Larter, W. Michael (1983). The Novice and the Expert: Knowledge-Based Strategies in Political Cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19: 381–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gomez, Brad T., and Wilson, J. Matthew (2001). Political Sophistication and Economic Voting in the American Electorate: A Theory of Heterogeneous Attribution. American Journal of Political Science, 45(4): 899–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, John (2006). Reclaiming the Common Good. Center for American Progress, June 5. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/reports/2006/06/05/2014/reclaiming-the-common-good/ (accessed August 25, 2021).Google Scholar
Hatab, Lawrence J. (1995). A Nietzschean Defense of Democracy: An Experiment in Postmodern Politics. Chicago and La Salle, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
Katrin-Arnold, Anne (2012). Political Sophistication, Deliberation, and the Structure of Opinions Public Issues. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3550747 (accessed August 25, 2021).Google Scholar
Luskin, Robert C. (1987). Measuring Political Sophistication. American Journal of Political Science, 31: 856–899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luskin, Robert C. (1990). Explaining Political Sophistication. Political Behavior, 12(4).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machiavelli, Niccolò (1997). Discourses on Livy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C. (1985). Sequential Elections with Limited Information. American Journal of Political Science, 29(3): 480–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, Allan H., and Richard, Scott F. (1981). A Rational Theory of the Size of Government. The Journal of Political Economy, 89(5): 914–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1977). The Portable Nietzsche. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1997). Untimely Meditations: Or, Thoughts Out of Season Parts I & II. 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1998). Beyond Good and Evil. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1998). On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1998). Twilight of the Idols. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Osborn, Ronald (2010). Nihilism’s Conscience: Nietzsche’s Politics of Aristocratic Radicalism. Modern Age: A Conservative Review, 52(4): 292–306.Google Scholar
Plato (1991). The Republic. 2nd Edition. Bloom, Allan (Ed.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rawls, John (2001). Justice as Fairness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reed, Adolph L. Jr. (1985) W. E. B. Du Bois: A Perspective on the Bases of His Political Thought. Political Theory, 13(3): 431–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richburg, Keith (2008). Head to Head: African Democracy. BBC News, October 16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7646295.stm (accessed April 28, 2014).Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1968). The Social Contract. London: Penguin Classics.Google Scholar
Searle, G. R. (1998). Morality and the Market in Victorian Britain. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2011. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206989.001.0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Tamsin (2010). Nietzsche’s Political Skepticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sundquist, Eric J. (Ed.) (1996). The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca, and Winters, Matthew S. (2017). Can Citizens Discern?: InformationCredibility, Political Sophistication, and the Punishment of Corruption in Brazil. The Journal of Politics, 79(1). https://doi.org/10.1086/687287 CrossRefGoogle Scholar