Burnham, James

Born Nov. 22, 1905, in Chicago. American sociologist. University professor in New York (1929–53).

Burnham proposed the theory of a “managerial revolution” (the book The Managerial Revolution, 1941). Making a fetish of the real process of separation of the functions of management from those of ownership, he asserted that a new ruling class of organizers was rising (higher engineers, administrators, and managers). This class was allegedly independent of capitalist property and capable of administering in the interests of the whole society.

Burnham is essentially an apologist for state monopoly capitalism and the totalitarian power of the minority. He asserts that the relationships of dominance and subordination are necessary conditions for the existence of society. Burnham is an open enemy of Marxism and the socialist countries.