James Burnham Got Almost Everything Wrong

The Managerial Revolution did a terrible job of forecasting the future

James Burnham is among the most influential right-wing thinkers of the twentieth century, and his thought has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, particularly among critics of liberal elites. His most cited book among his contemporary fans is The Managerial Revolution: What Is Happening in the World (1941).

I think the logic behind rightists finding Burnham compelling goes something like this. Burnham talked about managerial elites. There sure do seem to be a lot of managers and bureaucrats around. Thus, Burnham had great insights into modern society, and is a very useful thinker for understanding the world today.

Yet if you read anything beyond the cover of The Managerial Revolution, you’ll realize that Burnham made a series of confident predictions that turned out to be absolutely wrong.