Chapter I: James Burnham, the Walker of Washington Square. In Search of Managerial Oligarchy
Résumé
James Burnham is a major thinker of management of the 40s. In 1941 he published his famous book entitled Managerial revolution. In this chapter, several archives are used to analyse his vision in the context of the 30s and 40s, in particular the war and the industrial mobilization. Burnham defended the thesis of an emerging new social class (managers) and a new kind of socio-economic system beyond capitalism and socialism. The presence and experience of Burnham in the US and in New York is used here as a point of exploration of the first element involved in the great encounter between management and digitality, managers, and their need for control. Finally, a discussion on the future of James Burnham’s thinking wraps the chapter up.