Vilfredo Pareto's Sociology : a Framework for Political Psychology

Vilfredo Pareto’s Sociology
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expressed simply as a faith in the human capacity to solve problems through the 
application of reason. Classical sociology is energised by a faith that we can achieve 
a reasoned understanding of societal change, and then apply reason once more to 
deal with it. Political psychology draws upon this same faith, proceeding partly from 
the conviction that through applications of reason we may explore psychological 
aspects of politically significant changes identified by classical sociology. Political 
psychology can also help us take effective decisions as we respond to these changes. 
Crucially, knowledge generated within this discipline alerts us to our psychological 
biases. It can therefore help us sharpen our thoughts.
If we are to conceptualise the discipline of political psychology in terms of this 
enlightenment mission, then it becomes useful to consider this mission further with 
reference to the core enlightenment theme of rational self-determination. This theme 
privileges the perspective of the autonomous, rationally self-directed individual, 
who, in terms of Kant’s famously definition of the enlightenment, requires courage 
to escape the ‘self-imposed tutelage’ of all external influences upon thought which 
prevent the effective use of the rational faculty. This book cannot support rational self-
direction by supplying the courage which Kant deemed necessary for free thinkers 
of the enlightenment. What it can provide, however, is valuable knowledge relating 
to influences over our thoughts which compromise our capacities for effective self-
governance. Much of this book’s political psychology content is written with the 
standpoint of the individual decision-maker in mind, so that it might appeal to those 
who take political decisions at all levels. Such readers will be interested to discover 
that Pareto directs us towards features of personality which are likely to be decisive 
in influencing individual decision-making, particularly through the mediating 
influences of political subcultures and ideological scripts. In short, Pareto’s sociology 
is an excellent ‘way in’ to political psychology. Reading Pareto can stimulate anyone 
involved in politics to engage in enlightened self scrutiny.
As a historical pessimist who emphasised the irrational in social life, and who 
poured scorn on the notion that reason has hitherto driven human progress, Pareto 
may seem a very strange choice of enlightenment champion. Yet we must not count 
him amongst thinkers of the counter-enlightenment who have sought to undermine 
reason. He was certainly overzealous in his use of one of the enlightenment’s most 
powerful agents, scientific method. And although he wrote scathingly of the core 
enlightenment themes of democaracy, humanitarianism and progress, it is their 
misuse that commanded his attention. This suggests we might best understand Pareto 
as someone who, like Horkheimer and Adorno after him, critiqued the enlightenment 
from within, supplying correctives, strengthening it. Most importantly, Pareto served 
reason well by setting us thinking about key psychological and cultural biases which 
continue to influence political decision-making today. His sociology leads us to view 
politics as a sphere of activity which still refuses to ‘let the enlightenment in’ to the 
extent which has occurred within so many other spheres of life, and which is now 
possible to a degree unimaginable in Pareto’s time, thanks to the wealth of political 
psychology research which has since become available. The fact that its findings 
remain curiously underappreciated, not least by those who make political decisions, 
provides us with a strong basis for promoting Pareto as a vital contributor within the 
canon of classical sociology. 

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Chapter 1
Introduction
The sociological thought of Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto has suffered neglect 
in recent years. Yet Pareto should rank beside Max Weber, Karl Marx and Emile 
Durkheim as one of the principal classical founders of the discipline of sociology. 
In order to understand this neglect, we should consider that Pareto’s writings, which 
spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are especially indebted 
to Niccolò Machiavelli, who had been the principal guiding spirit for Italian social 
theory since the sixteenth century. Machiavelli’s concern, famously articulated in his 
‘The Prince’, had been to show how leaders may succeed in statecraft, by employing 
certain skills and facets of character which conventional ethical opinion would deem 
inappropriate. This seemingly amoral standpoint earned Machiavelli a reputation as 
an advocate of political cruelty and deception. It was to be no different with Pareto, 
whose similarly concerned writings not only fell under Machiavelli’s shadow, but 
provided intellectual ammunition for the darker political forces which threatened 
Europe during the early decades of the twentieth century. 
This book focuses upon the core feature of Pareto’s sociology which distinguishes 
it and contributes most of its value: its assertion that certain psychological factors 
recurrently play a pivotal role within social, political and economic life. We will see 
that Pareto’s intuitions concerning the psychological aspects of politics, in particular, 
contain profound insights which still seem fresh. Diverse psychological theories 
and research studies, many of them produced within the discipline of political 
psychology, will be pulled together to assess his claims. This exercise will lay bare 
important nuggets of truth within Pareto’s sociology, and it will point towards others 
yet to be found. 
By explaining what it means to take a Paretian approach to political analysis, 
this book seeks to raise Pareto’s status within the canon of classical sociology. In 
particular, it is hoped that his reinstatement will inspire the sociological imagination 
towards a greater engagement with political psychology, a discipline which now 
resides less on individual psychological levels and more upon sociological ground 
where it can root itself back into the classical sociological tradition. 
This book will also draw the reader’s attention to many psychological theories 
and research studies which are fascinating in their own right. Key issues in 
political psychology will be elucidated so that almost any ‘political’ matter can be 
analysed on psychological levels typically missed or underappreciated by political 
commentators. A substantial part of the case for Pareto’s rehabilitation will rest 
upon the way in which his theoretical framework can help us access and organise 
this stock of knowledge. We will also see that Pareto leads us to think about why
political psychology is important. It is hoped this in itself might energise efforts to 

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