CONTEMPORARY EURASIA IX ( 1 )
is necessary to adopt a more “ sociological ” perspective , focusing on the role of “ elites ” and how the elites that belong to the capitalist class promote their interests and how state elites relate to capitalists . 11 The question is how classes organize and how they are politically represented in pursuit of their interest . “ Elite ” is a more open category than class . “ lt allows for a richer account of individuals and groups beyond their economic position and including such identity categories as community ”. Elites are conventionally defined as “ decision-makers ”, while Pierre Bourdieu defines them as those with a high degree of social , symbolic , economic and cultural capital . 12 The two definitions are not mutually exclusive , as decision-makers are likely to also possess great “ capital ”. These different ways of thinking about elites are both important for the study of the new businessmen . While Hariri ' s network gained control of centers of decision-making , other businessmen were forced to focus more on building up a network that is strong in “ cultural capital ”. Pierre Bourdieu also provides a framework to think about the way in which economic power , the power to shape systems of accumulation , can be used to obtain symbolic power , the power to confirm or transform the social order . 13
Rafik Hariri left Lebanon for Saudi Arabia in 1964 , unable to pay for his studies and in search of employment . His first attempts at contracting ended in bankruptcy due to highly volatile oil prices , and the attendant volatility in input prices for construction . 14 Having experienced more than one cycle of boom-and-bust , Hariri struck gold in 1976 by teaming up with Nasr al-Rashid , a Saudi engineer from a prominent family who had access to royal contracts . Hariri ’ s success is therefore due both to his own personal qualities and the patronage politics of the Saudi state . Hariri had no direct access to the Saudi King , but this changed in 1982 . In the wake of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon , Hariri demonstrated his political usefulness to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia by initiating the clean-up of Beirut . The King was pleased and took over the funding for the project . 15 Till then , Hariri acted as a “ Saudi mediator ” between the various factions of the Lebanese civil war .
11
Hindessm , 28-33 , See Scott John , The Sociology of Elites , Volume III : Interlocking Directorships and Corporate Networks ( Aldershott : Elgar , 1990 ).
12
In his study of Arab elites Perthes Volker uses the conventional definition of elites as decision-makers . See Perthes Volker , Arab Elites : Negotiating the politics of Change ( Boulder : Lynne Rienner , 2004 ). On Bourdieu ' s definition of elites see Michael Hartmann , The Sociology of Elites ( Oxford : Routledge , 2007 ).
13
Pierre Bourdieu , Language and Symbolic Power ( Cambridge : Polity , 1991 ), 170 .
14
Hadi Makarem , “ Actually Existing Neoliberalism : The reconstruction of Downtown Beirut in post-civil war Lebanon , London School of economics and political science ” ( PhD diss ., London , September , 2014 ), http :// etheses . lse . ac . uk / 3078 / 1 / Makarem _ Actually _ Existing _ Neoliberalism . pdf ( Accessed May 30 , 2020 )
15
The initial posters on Oger ’ s trucks publicized the “ Project of Cleaning Beirut courtesy of Rafik Hariri , Oger Liban 1982 ”. See Shalaq Al-Fadl , Tajrabatyy ma ’ a al-Hariri ( My Experience with Hariri ), ( Beirut : Arab Scientific Publishers , 2006 ), 60 . 8