Elites

The concept of “elites” is probably one of the most controversial in the field of social sciences. Positional approaches tend to identify elites as the superrich and map them at the top of the social structure (regarding where they are placed and to who they relate). In contrast, agential or relational approaches focus on what elites deploy to reproduce themselves and seek legitimacy from those they aim to lead. Therefore, this contribution aims at giving an overview of a selection of approaches that, in analysing the relationship between elites and inequality, go beyond this conceptual mess and this conflation with related concepts as merely ruling class and upper strata. In a second section, we would like to concentrate on some recent and original analysis that offers real global approaches to this problem, moving beyond methodological nationalism, such as the transnationalization of elites and the role of elites in emerging societies. At the end, some current challenges and research trends are presented: concentration (in a more material dimension) and meritocracy (in a more ideological one). The response to them merges the academic and the political agenda in the study of this urgent relationship between elites and inequality in a global perspective in times of segmentation and polarization.