Theorizing relational logic of the political elite’s point of view:

• In Event: 20420 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6: Status, Legitimacy, & Legitimation

Abstract

In this article, I claim that the prevalence of essentialism and structural determinism in the political elite scholarship prevents us from recognizing chronological shifts in the political elite’s point of view. We can overcome this problem by introducing relational logic to study the relationship between the political elite’s point of view and their structural position. In this article, I adopt Bourdieu’s insights into the relational logic of habitus to empirically study and explain shifts in Nehru’s point of view on land reforms in India. Using qualitative data, I claim that Nehru’s political trajectory during the colonial period shaped his political habitus to view populist political practices as meaningful when in a relationally dominated position and networking political practices as meaningful when in a relationally dominant position. Hence, Nehru simultaneously championed land reforms and enabled the formation of the Congress party system, which became the main reason for the failure of land reforms. My study shows that the political elite’s practices, including those related to land reforms but not limited to it, must be studied as a historically specific phenomenon within the temporal flow of the changing relational structure of politics.

Author

• Sourabh Singh, Florida State University