ABSTRACT
Pareto's ideas have had a huge impact on subsequent studies of elites. Despite a careful comparative study of his work with that of Mosca, usage of Pareto's ideas has often been often in the rather simplified terms of an investigation into social background and connections of top positions of decision-making. Pareto's argument that there is a constant circulation of individuals and, therefore, a continual change in the composition of the governing elite, is central to his explanation of the equilibrating tendencies of social systems. All actions, Pareto argues, follow from subjective states of mind. People base what they do on their understandings of the world and of the likely consequences of their actions. Pareto saw the non-logical actions based on residues of combination and persistence as being the most important for determining social equilibrium. There has been less attention accorded to Pareto's suggestions concerning the relationship between elite circulation and social equilibrium and long-term patterns of historical succession of elites.
