The definition of politics by means of the fierce and human attribute of the Machiavellian Centaurus - power and consensus as the foundations of the State - is present both in Gramsci's political thought in order to characterize the modern State and in Pareto's sociology in view of distinguishing governing elites. The authors, nevertheless, are close to Machiavelli in very different ways. Whereas Gramsci "updates" Machiavelli's realism associating it to Marxism and applying it to contemporaneous issues, in Pareto it is evident a very close adherence to the very wording of Machiavelli's writings. Despite the coincidence of their Machiavellian source, the authors' different readings regarding the relationships between power and consensus will lead to antagonistic perspectives about politics and social stability.
Vilfredo Pareto; Antonio Gramsci; Nicollo Machiavelli; power; consensus