SAINT-SIMON AND THE POLITICS OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

In: Government & opposition: an international journal of comparative politics, Band 8, Heft 1, S. 24-47

Abstract

MOST STUDENTS OF SAINT-SIMON HAVE BEEN ESPECIALLY CONCERNED WITH HIS RELATIONS WITH THE DIFFERENT 19TH-CENTURY IDEOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS; HENCE FEW HAVE APPROACHED HIS WORK FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE INCOMPATIBILITY BETWEEN HIS ATTITUDES & THOSE OF THE JACOBINS. YET SUCH AN APPROACH RESITUATES HIS INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY IN ITS PROPER CONTEXT--& INDEED PROTECTS HIS WORK FROM THE ANACHRONISTIC INTERPRETATIONS WHICH HAVE PLAGUED IT IN THE HISTORY OF IDEAS. MOREOVER, IT ILLUMINATES EVEN MORE REWARDINGLY HIS PRESENT RELEVANCE. HIS CLASH WITH JACOBINISM MIGHT BE TAKEN AS THE STARTING POINT OF THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN JACOBINISM & INDUSTRIALISM, BETWEEN THE MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES & THE 'POLITICS OF POWER' OF THE OLD CENTRALIZED NATION STATES. FROM THIS THEN DERIVES HIS THEORY OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE POLITICS OF POWER & THE POLITICS OF ABILITIES. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS THEORY, ESPECIALLY FOR POLITICAL SCIENCE, HAS NOT BEEN SUFFICIENTLY STRESSED IN THE CLASSIC STUDIES ON SAINT-SIMON'S WORK. MOSTLY SOCIOLOGICAL, THESE STUDIES ARE DIVIDED AMONGST THEMSELVES ON WHETHER HIS WORK MUST BE SEEN AS SOCIALISM, UTOPIAN OR OTHERWISE, OR AS ELITISM, TECHNOCRATIC OR OTHERWISE. YET IT IS THIS THEORY WHICH PROVIDES THE LOGICAL LINK BETWEEN THESE 2 SEEMINGLY CONTRADICTORY INTERPRETATIONS. POWER IS CONCENTRATED IN THE RAREFIED SPHERES OF AVAILABILITY OF KNOWLEDGE, AMONGST THE LEADERS OF THE GROUPS & THEIR NECESSARY COUNCILS FOR COORDINATION & PLANNING, CONSULTATION & INTERDEPENDENCE. THIS IS WHERE IN SAINT-SIMON'S CONCEPTION & TERMINOLOGY GOVERNMENT, IN THE OLD SENSE, ENDS & ADMINISTRATION, IN THE NEW SENSE, BEGINS. THE THEORY NOW COMES FULLY INTO ITS OWN. "IN THE PAST THE MAIN POLITICAL SKILL CONSISTED IN KNOWING HOW TO GOVERN, THAT IS TO SAY HOW TO MAKE ONESELF FEARED & OBEYED; THE SCIENCE OF ADMINISTRATION WAS STILL IN ITS INFANCY & HAD ONLY A SECONDARY IMPORTANCE. IT IS AN ENTIRELY NEW DOCTRINE WHICH WE MUST ORGANIZE...#THE OLD DOCTRINE HAD ENTRUSTED THE GOVERNORS WITH THE TASK OF COMMANDING; THE NEW DOCTRINE MUST CONFER ON THEM, AS THEIR PRINCIPAL FUNCTION, TO ADMINISTER WELL." THIS IS WHERE SAINT-SIMON, SOMEWHAT UNEXPECTEDLY, LINKS UP ACROSS THE 19TH CENTURY WITH MAX WEBER & HIS RATIONALITAT & HIS INTERESSENKONSTELLATION, & WITH BENTLEY & HIS GROUPS & PROCESSES OF GOVERNMENT, TO GIVE A NEW RELEVANCE TO THE CONCEPT OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. 1 TABLE. AA.