THE NOTION OF POLITICAL CLASS

The notion of political class is increasingly used in the media order to criticize tendencies of growing distance between voters and elites. In order to test this normative use, the notion of political class is examined in the context of its theoretical origins in the work of Mosca and Pareto. Political class is frequently considered as a more dynamic concept in research on elites. Empirical research on the political class will not only examine what the political elite is in terms of social origins and structure, but also what the political elite does. The concept of political class can be useful when it transcends the narrow interests of traditional research on elites, and aims at broad analyses of structures and communication in the framework of party organisation, corporatism and "generalized political exchange".