L'art de la guerre 1521 by Machiavelli Nicolo

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The real interests o f a property-ow ning dem ocracy and not ideo­ logical distortion meant people should endorse the individual selfinterest and free-m arket values that underpin capitalist society. The view o f certain political com m entators that new sectoral cleavages were superseding class in the determ ination o f political behaviour, notably that the ownership o f property w ould predispose w orkingclass voters towards the Conservative Party, echoed the claims o f the politicians. Even the second time around em bourgeoisem ent remains mis­ conceived, both empirically and theoretically.

It does, how ever, suggest some acceptance o f an econom ic and social system which delivers material benefits, and the appropriateness o f distri­ butional struggle. The absence o f a real alternative contributes to acceptance, and in 1980 we suggested that the manifest inadequacies o f the Soviet U nion and other state-socialist societies m eant socialism was a pow erful negative example. The future developm ent o f socialism in the era o f econom ic restructuring and political reform raises intriguing possibilities in this regard.

And Husbands, C. T. (1985), British Democracy at the Crossroads: Voting and Party Competition in the 1980s (London: Allen & Unwin). Fidler, J. (1981), The British Business Elite: Its Attitudes to Class, Status and Power (London: Routledge). Gamble, A. (1974), The Conservative Nation (London: Routledge). Goldthorpe, J. (1978), ‘The current inflation: tow ards a sociological account’, in F. Hirsch and J. G oldthorpe (eds), The Political Economy o f Inflation (London: M artin Robertson), pp. 186-214.