Elite identities

Abstract

Elites have changed. They are now more open and meritocratic. They are also the engines of inequality. In this article, I argue that elites have embraced the rhetoric of the rights movements of the past decades, becoming champions of the notion that it is individual capacities that matter, not ascriptive characteristics. This stance embraces a new efficiency of our world, that of the market. The earnest deployment of these ideas by the elite has resulted in a world with less equality, less mobility and a more empowered elite. I reflect on how this came to be, and how such elite identities might be challenged in the service of the public welfare.

Keywords:

• elites
• inequality
• culture
• meritocracy
• identity
• sociology