ABSTRACT
Strategic elites exist because something gave birth to them, something that resembles them, yet is also different. An examination of the origins of strategic elites thus compels us to probe into the origins of social classes with which such elites are frequently and understandably interchanged. Closer scrutiny suggests that strategic elites are a crystallization, further development, of ruling classes. The caste system is thus at one end of a continuum, elites at the other. Castes differ from each other with respect to almost every attribute; classes differ mainly in economic standing and occupational activity, whereas elites are to be distinguished largely on the basis of occupation. In all ancient civilizations in which systems of class stratification developed, counterparts to modern strategic elites also evolved. The historical instances should also dispel the notion that open class societies are creations of the West or of the industrial revolution.
