Van Dijk's Notion Of Elite Analysis

Van Dijk’s Notion of Elites
The notion of the elites according to Van Dijk is based upon groups of people in the society who wield a form of power over other people. According to this notion, there can be various elite groups in the society. These groups usually have control or access to critical resources in specific areas. From this definition, one gets to see that elites can come from the political, state, scientific, corporate or social settings (Dijk page 44). Their ability to influence matters in these areas makes them elites. In addition to this, elites can also possess the skills and resources to influence matters across various domain boundaries. Most of the time, this is exemplified by corporate and military elites who tend to possess

While elites such as corporate elites, and military elites can influence policy with regards to the ethnic constitution of their respective organizations. However, it should be noted that their opinions are not necessarily accepted by the public discourse at large. Instead, there is a specific group of elites who have the ability to influence proceedings at a larger public scale. They are usually referred to as ‘opinion leaders’ in public circles. These are in essence symbolic elites as their opinion can cause considerable debate to occur on issues such as ethnicity and immigration (Dijk page

As such, teachers, as well as textbook writers, are influential in shaping the minds and perceptions of the society. They effectively have control over curricula and lessons. Research projects involving knowledge and opinions such as ethnic affairs and other social issues are also influenced by the symbolic elites. It should, however, be noted that most symbolic elites do not have direct power such as wealth or decision-making abilities. As such, their sphere of influence is usually limited to the realm of ideas and concepts (Dijk page 46, 47).
Parliamentary elites are also influential in the shaping of opinions and debate in the society (Dijk page 71). They generally have persuasive functions through the parliamentary debates that are a part of their civic duty. Speakers of parliaments will generally try to convince their audiences both within and outside of parliament that their assumed positions are indeed well founded and reasonable. However, the methodologies usually employed in the discussion of issues are usually