Cooptation : analysis of a neglected social process

Abstract

The concept of cooptation is at the same time very popular and quite neglected. One frequently reads or hears the phrase mentioned in passing, as though there were agreement as to what it meant, but there is a dearth of work on the subject. In one of the few works focusing directly on the subject, Karl Loewenstein (1973:21) decries the 11 complete lack of systematic research on cooptation11 and notes that the standard references in sociology and political science either mention it not at all or contain only a few sentences on the subject. There exist only two books, to the current author's knowledge, in which cooptation is a major concept: Loewenstein's work in German, which is an attempt to develop a model of cooptation, and one work in English, Selznick's TVA and the Grass Roots (1949), a case study of the TVA using cooptation as a basic concept.

The neglect of the concept, coupled with the varieties of its use, as will be documented below, would be enough to justify the current investigation. Additional justification rests on two bases: 1) insofar as power is a basic process in all societies, organizations, and groups, and since cooptation is a part of the power process, it has import; and 2) hopefully, the reader will agree that cooptation is a ubiquitous phenomenon, occurring just as ordinarily as other recognized social processes, such as assimilation, accommodation, or revolution.

The intent of this investigation is to clarify the concept of cooptation and show its use as an analytic and explanatory device, and to formulate some notions about typical patterns and outcomes of the cooptation process. To begin, my working definition of a threat model of cooptation will be presented along with a model of a power system which, as will be seen, is the locus for the occurrence of cooptation. Then, several other models of cooptation will be examined with critiques indicating the need for the new conceptualization represented by the threat model.