On elites and institutions: research paths

Abstract

The article is based in research about military and business elites to discuss the eventual use of analytical schemes that integrate elements of Bourdieu’s sociology and the sociology of institutions in the study of elites. We highlight the issue of the existence conditions and the legitimation mechanisms of the institutional elites in importer contexts such as the Brazilian one. We considered a priority examining the dynamics of the institutionalization processes (of the Army and of the “business sustainability”), focusing on the concrete practices and the devices applied in struggles for defining the hierarchy and excellence criteria in each institutional space. We specially defend research attuned to individual investments in the institution, as well as the diverse forms of engagement and the particular or collective battles for recognition and power. We also evidence the many combinations of different methods and techniques of social research — of production, of treatment, of data analysis and interpretation —, highlighting the sociogenetical investigation of institutions, the prosopography of institutional elites, and the analysis of their main strategies and discursive practices.

Keywords:
Sociology of elites; Institutions; Institutional elites; Military elites; Business elites