Abstract: The civic life-styles typology of Charles Adrian and Oliver Williams was tested as to its theoretical utility in explaining empirical patterns of civic life-style items, and its comparability to other forms of urban behavior. The data are from a 1970 survey of 3,025 families by the City of Dallas, Texas. An exploratory factor analysis was done on civic life-style items. The factor index scores were used as dependent variables, and demographic and associational items were independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis. Only two of ten factors were found to be civic lifestyles; both were interpretable using the Adrian and Williams typology. Civic life-style behavior was found to be similar to other patterns of differential participation in urban structures.

A comparison of social elitist concepts in the works of Karl Marx, Vilfredo Pareto, and Karl Mannheim reveals similar patterns in the uses of these concepts. By listing seven criteria that were developed and by the use of a topical analysis method, similarities are presented and explained. Additional comparisons according to schools of thought and specific national setting are also presented. Structural similarities were identified among the theories; however, content patterns are not evident because of the lack of an accepted definition of the elite. The analysis and the comparison of the concepts of the elite in the works of these major thinkers facilitate and deepen the understanding of this concept in sociological work.