Wilfredo Pareto (years of life - 1848-1923) is a well-known sociologist and economist. He is one of the founders of the theory of elites, according to which society has a pyramidal shape. At the top of the pyramid is the elite, which largely determines the life of society as a whole. But not only as the creator of this theory is known Wilfredo Pareto. His biography will introduce you to the life path and the main achievements of this scientist.
Origin, childhood
Wilfredo was born in a noble family living in Paris. His father was the Italian marquis, who was expelled from Italy for republican and liberal convictions. Pareto's mother is French. Wilfredo, who was fluent in both languages of his parents since childhood, still felt more Italian than French. In 1850, the family was allowed to return to Italy, and it was with this country that Wilfredo Pareto's further life (childhood, adolescence and part of a mature period) was connected.
Education
Pareto received both technical and humanitarian classical secondary education. Already during his studies, he showed interest and a penchant for mathematics. Then Wilfredo continued his studies in Turin, at the Polytechnic University, after which he received an engineering degree. Pareto defended in 1869 a dissertation on the principles of equilibrium of solids. The concept of equilibrium will subsequently be one of the main in his economic and sociological works.
Life in Florence
In Florence, the next period of life of Wilfredo Pareto. He was invited here to occupy the post of engineer of communications. After some time, Pareto became the manager of metallurgical plants located throughout Italy. His speeches against the militaristic policy pursued by the Italian government date to this time. Pareto expresses liberal and democratic views.
Personal Events
In 1889, Wilfredo married a Russian-born girl, Alexandra Bakunina. However, his wife left him in 1901 and returned to Russia. A year after that, he connected his life with Jeanne Regis, to whom he devoted his main work, written in 1912 ("A Treatise on General Sociology"). It was published in Florence in 1916.
Acquaintance with the work of Italian economists, a turning point in beliefs
Pareto in 1891 met with the work of two prominent Italian economists, L. Valras and M. Pantaleoni. The theory of economic equilibrium, developed by them, had a great influence on Wilfredo's worldview and subsequently formed the basis of his own sociological system. By the beginning of the 90s of the 19th century, a turning point in the convictions of Pareto was related. The scientist has taken the position of anti-democracy and conservatism. In the period from 1892 to 1894, Pareto published a number of his materials on economic theory.
Life in Switzerland
In 1893, a new period began in the life of an Italian scientist. At this time, he moved to Switzerland, where he became a professor of political economy, as well as the head of the department at the local University of Lausanne. Pareto succeeded L. Walras, a very famous economist. Wilfredo studied at his work and it was at his invitation that he arrived in Lausanne. At this time, Pareto was engaged in a lot of science and published a number of his works. In Switzerland, his Political Economy Course (1896-1897) appeared, written in French. Together with the teaching of political economics, Pareto in 1897 began to read a course in sociology at the University of Lausanne. And a year later he inherited a colossal fortune from his uncle. In 1901, Pareto acquired the Angora villa, located in Celineña, on the shores of Lake Geneva. She became his favorite place of rest and work. In Paris in 1902, the Pareto book "Socialist Systems" was published (pictured below).
And in Milan in 1907 he published the "Textbook of Political Economy" by Wilfredo Pareto. His main works gained great fame, but his most important work was yet to come.
"Treatise on General Sociology"
Wilfredo had to stop teaching in 1907 due to heart disease. After some time, feeling better health, he set to work on "A Treatise on General Sociology." Wilfredo wrote this work for 5 years, from 1907 to 1912. In 1916, its first publication in Italian took place, and after 3 years, the Treatise was published in French. From this time until the end of his days, Wilfredo Pareto was engaged in research only in the field of sociology. At Lausanne University in 1918, its 70th anniversary was solemnly celebrated.
last years of life
The Italian sociologist in the early 1920s published several interesting and important works. In 1921, the Transformation of Democracy was published in Milan, which summarizes all the basic ideas of this scientist. The sociologist in several of his writings sympathized with Italian fascism, to which he expressed ideological support. It was at this time, in 1922, B. Mussolini (pictured above) came to power in Italy. The new government honored Pareto, many members of it, including the Duce himself, considered themselves to be students of Wilfredo. Pareto in 1923 became a senator of the Italian kingdom. Then he died in Celigny and was buried here.
Reasons for turning to sociology
As mentioned above, Pareto turned to sociology quite late, being already a well-known specialist in the field of political economy. What was this connected with? It is likely that Wilfredo was no longer satisfied with the concept of an “economic man”, which was rationalistic and within the framework of which the scientist worked for a long time, studying the monopolistic market, as well as the distribution of income in the society and some other economic problems. Even in the works created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the author shows interest in the new model of man. This interest was fully realized in the "Treatise on General Sociology" - voluminous work (about 2000 pages of text).
Rejection of the rationalist model
It was not by chance that Pareto decided to abandon the rationalist model of man that prevailed at that time, although he himself had been its supporter for many years. In accordance with this model, the individual first ponders the actions in accordance with the goals facing him, and then performs actions leading to their achievement. According to the Pareto concept, everything is actually the opposite. First, a person performs certain actions under the influence of interests and feelings, and only then explains them, striving for the validity and plausibility of interpretations. In fact, one of Wilfredo’s main concepts is based on this - the theory of illogical action.
However, the scientist does not switch to irrationalistic interpretations of human actions. On the contrary, he tries to strengthen rationalism by turning it into "ultrarationalism", when not only logic is included in the discourse, but also observations and experiment to expose the illusions that people use to deceive themselves and others, trying to hide the real motives of their own actions and actions.
We turn to the consideration of the theory, thanks to which many are familiar with the name of such a scientist as Wilfredo Pareto.
Theory of Elites
Pareto is the creator of the theory of elites. He spoke of their constant change. The Italian researcher called history a cemetery of elites, privileged minorities fighting for power, coming to it, enjoying power and being replaced by other minorities. Wilfredo noted that the elites are characterized by a tendency to decline. In turn, the "non-elites" are able to create worthy successors to them. This is important because often children do not have the outstanding qualities of their parents. The need for circulation and a constant change of elites is explained by the fact that those in power lose energy, which helped them gain a place in the sun.
Items
Society strives for social equilibrium, which is ensured by the interaction of various forces. Pareto called these forces elements. Wilfredo identified 4 main elements: intellectual, social, economic and political.
Psychological inequality of people
The theory of Wilfredo Pareto pays special attention to the motives of human actions, therefore, politics for the Italian scientist is largely a function of psychology. Using a psychological approach in the analysis of politics and society, Wilfredo explained the diversity of social institutions by the psychological inequality of people. He noted that society is heterogeneous, and individuals differ morally, physically, and intellectually. We can assume that Wilfredo determined the elite by innate psychological properties. He even created a scoring system of ratings, which revealed the ability of a person in a particular field of activity.
What keeps the elite in power?
The elite in the Pareto concept is divided into 2 parts: the "non-ruling" and the "ruling". The latter is involved in management, and the former is far from making power decisions. A small class in power is held in part by its own strength, and partly because of the support of the subordinate class. Moreover, as noted by Wilfredo Pareto, whose elite theory is thoroughly substantiated, the “resource of consent” is based primarily on the ability of those in power to convince others of their own rightness. The likelihood of agreement, he believed, depends on the ability to manipulate the emotions and feelings of the crowd. However, the ability to persuade does not always help to maintain power, which means that the elite must be ready to act by force.
Two types of elite
In the theory of the Pareto elite, its 2 types stand out: "foxes" and "lions". If the political system is stable, “lions” prevail. An unstable system requires combinators, innovators, energetic figures, so "foxes" appear. The change of one elite to another is the result of the fact that each of these types of elites has its own advantages. However, they no longer meet the needs of the mass leadership over time. Maintaining the balance of the system therefore requires a constant change of elites, as repeated situations arise in front of them.
Wilfredo Pareto Law
This is another interesting discovery by Wilfredo. Otherwise, it is called the 20/80 principle, or the Pareto principle. This is a rule of thumb, according to which 20% of the effort gives us 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% gives only 20%. The rule of Wilfredo Pareto can be used as a basic setting when analyzing the effectiveness factors of a particular activity, the purpose of which is to optimize the results. According to the Pareto curve, choosing the minimum of the most important actions correctly, we get a significant part of the full result. Further improvements are ineffective and may be unjustified.
The figures given in the law, of course, cannot be considered absolutely accurate. It is rather a mnemonic rule. The choice of the numbers 80 and 20 is a tribute to the merits of Wilfredo, who revealed the structure of Italy's household income distribution. He noted that 80% of income is concentrated in 20% of families.
Of course, we talked only in general terms about the contribution to science made by Wilfredo Pareto. Thanks to his work, sociology began to develop rapidly. The attention of many scientists was drawn to it. Wilfredo Pareto, whose basic ideas are relevant today, is one of the most famous sociologists and economists of the 19-20 centuries.