The theory of elitist democracy in the S. Lipset’s sociology

The article presents an analysis of American sociologist Seymour Lipset's theory of elitist democracy. Democracy, in his understanding, is the result of social transformations that exacerbate the competition of elites in the political sphere. It emphasizes the conditionality of such a democracy by economic, status, cultural, educational, and religious factors. Consideration is given to the possibility of a system with different levels of political participation. It is shown that democracy in individual associations cannot be the fundamental premise of people’ rule in a civil society. Lipset was one of the first to draw attention to such prerequisites of political system stability as efficiency and legitimization, as well as to the parameters determining the nature of political behavior of representatives of different social strata in a democracy. This topic still attracts the attention of many researchers, helping to identify the factors of democratization in society.