Elites : : Choice, Leadership and Succession / / edited by João de Pina Cabral, Antónia Pedroso de Lima.

• TeilnehmendeR: Pina-Cabral, João de,; Lima, Maria Antónia Pedroso de,
• Place / Publishing House: Lisboa : : Etnográfica Press,, 2000.
• Year of Publication: 2000
• Language: English
• Series: Antropologia
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 pages).

Wealth and power characterize elites, yet despite the strong cultural influences they exert, their study remains underdeveloped. Partly because of complications resulting from access, scholars have tended to focus on groups affected by elite governance rather than on elites themselves. It is often overlooked that, in order to continue through time, elites have to empower new members. Choice has to be exercised over who achieves leadership, both by reference to the elite group itself and to the wider group over which it holds power. This book fills a gap in the current literature by providing the first rigorous interrogation of the choice and succession strategies of elites in various cultural contexts - from the transmission and preservation of financial power in urban contexts to the complex relation between subjectivity and the transmission of leadership positions in places as varied as the United States, Northern Italy and Lisbon. Various elite succession types are discussed, from self-avowedly 'traditional' leaders to the aristocracy, where choice is practically non-existent, to situations where leaders are elected from amongst a group of peers. The relationship between familial property and choice of successor in landholding families, small business enterprises, and peasant communities is also examined, as are ethnic monopolies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements -- Notes on Contributors -- Introduction -- Part I. Dynastic Sentiments -- 1. The Deep Legacies of Dynastic Subjectivity: The Resonances of a Famous Family Identity in Private and Public Spheres -- 2. 'How Did I Become a Leader in My Family Firm?' Assets for Succession in Contemporary Lisbon Financial Elites -- 3. Patriarchal Desire: Law and Sentiments of Succession in Italian Capitalist Families -- Part II. Choice and Tradition -- 4. Elite Succession Among The Matrilineal Akan of Ghana -- 5. 'Tradition' Versus 'Politics': Succession Conflicts in a Chiefdom of North-western Ghana -- 6. Making The Chief: An Examination of Why Fijian Chiefs Have To Be Elected -- Part III. House and Heir -- 7. Aristocratic Succession in Portugal (From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries) -- 8. Family, Power and Property: Ascendancy and Decline of a Rural Elite -- Part IV. Monopolies and Enclaves -- 9. Re-serving Succession in a British Enclave -- 10. How Do the Macanese Achieve Collective Action? -- 11. Uncanny Success: Some Closing Remarks -- Bibliography -- Index.