ABSTRACT
I N an address which he gave during the Second World War , George Thompson analysed the democratic social process as follows:
Every set of ideas or plan of action, whether in the political or any other sphere, is conditioned by its relation to four categories of people, which whilst they shade into each other are nevertheless clearly marked. These categories are the creators and initiators, the trained and well-informed, the interested, and the oblivious. The first is in almost every sphere a tiny minority; the second, a larger group but still a minority. The third and fourth categories are the really large groups. What happens is that some new plan of action or idea is worked out and put forward by one or more of the creators and initiators. But unless the idea or plan is taken up by those who are trained and well-informed in the sphere to which the plan or idea applies, the conception is still-born and has no chance of influencing things. Even if it is taken up by the trained and wellinformed but gets no further, it becomes merely the possession or plaything of a clique, and has little, if any, effect on how people think and act. But if the trained and well-informed deliberately set out to influence the much larger mass who have some interest in that particular sphere and they succeed in getting a favourable
response, then the idea or the plan has a good chance of being incorporated.1
