ABSTRACT

The basic distinction in elitism is between elite and mass. Elitism is an outlook that takes this distinction to be fundamental in understanding society and culture and in guiding social policy. It takes the elite to be the source of knowledge and culture, the guardian of quality, the preserver of standards, and the proper locus of leadership and authority. The elite were an established aristocracy; the masses had no share in their activities. The lines were visible. Power and glory, as well as accomplishment, lay on one side. The division was justified by theories of all sorts—theological and metaphysical, biological and social. Plato gave elitism a strong start with an underlying theory of human nature in which he saw the human psyche as composed of appetite will or spirit, and reason. Blunt a theme admits of many variations in the history of aristocracy and elitism.