Book 6: Chapter 2, Preservation of Oligarchies Summary and Analysis

Aristotle effectively continues the discussion from the previous sections. The four subsections are covered by this chapter heading. These and the previous four form book 6, which according to the translators constitutes one of the monographs in this series.

Herein, Aristotle covers the grounds of the sorts of people within a given community and shows how they relate to the state. In terms of type of government, in this case he is working mainly with oligarchy—this is rule by the few but not by a group of aristocrats. There are typically regulations both tacit and explicit about where the oligarchs come from. In many cases, they are forced to come from the wealthy, because they can afford to do the work for free or very cheaply without it causing them to be cast...