Robert Michels, in his famous text Political Parties, gave five main reasons for the Iron Law of Oligarchy: the physical limits of communications, the necessity of oligarchism for the martial fitness of an organization, the necessity of professional management, the ambitious and Machiavellian tendencies of leaders, and the apathy of the masses. While his book was a great work for its time, it falls short of modern scientific standards. Luckily, we have over 100 years worth of social science data and psychometric theory which can serve to scientifically verify, or falsify, Michels’ hypotheses. This post will focus on the apathy of the masses. Below, we will perform a careful review of exist
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