Michels' theory of the iron law of oligarchy

(Advanced power framework) Michels formulated a very harsh criticism of bureaucracy, where he said that instead of bureaucracies being meritocratic structures, they are undemocratic and continuously enable for "oligarchies". In these, the elite in each respective oligarchy belong to the same social circles. When it for example comes to trade unions, their prominent leaders hang out with business leaders, although their job is to protect workers' rights from being exploited by business leaders. Thus, companies and organizations are never truly competitors, as the senior management are friends with each other. Michels therefore believed that Weber's belief in meritocracy was naive. He also mentions a societal perspective, namely that women and minorities never gain access to the higher echelons of the organization structures.