Elite

An Elite is a person or social group who controls a significant amount of social power (social status).

Context:
- They can (typically) be a member of an Elite Class.
- They can (typically) have a Power Need.
- They can range from being an Economic Elite to being a Power Elite.
- They can range from being a Developing Country Elite to being a Developed Country Elite.
- They can be of a Moneyd Class.
- They can be a member of an Elite Establishment.
- …
Example(s):
- an Economic Elite, such as:
- a Military Elite, such as:
- a Political Elite, such as:
- Elite Politician, Elite Capitalist, Elite Entertainer, Social Media Influencer, ...
- Suharto in Indonesia, during the 1970s and 1980s.
- some Kennedys in the US.
- Bill Gates, in the US.
- …
Counter-Example(s):
- a Working Class Person (in a working class).
- a Counter-Elite.
- a Petit Bourgeois.
See: Sociology, Economic Inequality, Political Power.

References

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-03-15/real-guardrails-democracy-are-its-citizens
- QUOTE: ... the will of the elite has hardly proved more reliable than that of the rabble. One result of the founders’ misplaced faith in the goodwill of politicians was the notorious U.S. Electoral College. Men of “discernment,” chosen by the states, would meet in a “college,” deliberate rationally, and select a president, Hamilton explained. …

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/31/the-podesta-emails-show-who-runs-america-and-how-they-do-it
- QUOTE: This genre of Podesta email, in which people try to arrange jobs for themselves or their kids, points us toward the most fundamental thing we know about the people at the top of this class: their loyalty to one another and the way it overrides everything else. Of course Hillary Clinton staffed her state department with investment bankers and then did speaking engagements for investment banks as soon as she was done at the state department. Of course she appears to think that any kind of bank reform should “come from the industry itself”. And of course no elite bankers were ever prosecuted by the Obama administration. Read these emails and you understand, with a start, that the people at the top tier of American life all know each other. They are all engaged in promoting one another’s careers, constantly.

(Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite Retrieved:2014-11-2.
- In political and sociological theory, an elite is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth or political power. In general, elite means the more capable group of people. The selected part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.

(Graeber & Piketty, 2013) ⇒ David Graeber, and Thomas Piketty. (2013). “An Exchange on Capital, Debt, and the Future." Discussion at Ecole Normale Superieure moderated by Joseph Confavreux and Jade Lindgaard..
- QUOTE: I am not sure that we are on the eve of an collapse of the system, at least not from a purely economic viewpoint. A lot depends on political reactions and on the ability of the elites to persuade the rest of the population that the present situation is acceptable. If an effective apparatus of persuasion is in place, there is no reason why the system should not continue to exist as it is. I do not believe that strictly economic factors can precipitate its fall. …
  … the apparatus of persuasion — or of repression, or a combination of the two, depending on what country you are considering — may allow the present situation to persist. A century ago, despite universal suffrage, the elites of the industrialized countries succeeded in preventing any progressive taxes. It took World War I to bring about a progressive income tax.

(Veblen, 1899) ⇒ Thorstein Veblen. (1899). “The Theory of the Leisure Class." Cosimo Classics. ISBN:9781602061804
- QUOTE: In the communities belonging to the higher barbarian culture there is a considerable differentiation of sub-classes within what may be comprehensively called the leisure class; and there is a corresponding differentiation of employments between these sub-classes. The leisure class as a whole comprises the noble and the priestly classes, together with much of their retinue. The occupations of the class are correspondingly diversified; but they have the common economic characteristic of being non-industrial. These non-industrial upper-class occupations may be roughly comprised under government, warfare, religious observances, and sports.