- Ages of Discord
- Ages of Discord as Markets – but for what?
- What Markets Make Aspiration of Classes Possible?
- What Is an Elite (versus an Aristocracy)?
- What Does Power Mean?
- Why Some People Aspire to Elite Positions Over Others
- What Makes Elite Overproduction Possible
- Emergence of Parasitic Elites
Ages of Discord (Turchin)
An “Age of Discord” can be defined as a period characterized by significant societal instability, marked by increasing social strife, political polarization, and economic inequality. During these phases, traditional institutions may weaken, and conflicts within and between societal groups intensify.
Ages of discord are typically preceded by and lead to ages of relative stability. An age of discord results from structural stresses such as elite overproduction, fiscal crises, and deepening class divisions, culminating in widespread social and political upheaval.
Great. But that doesn’t tell us how these ages emerge and what to do about it.
Ages of Crisis (Quigley)
The failure of the engine or growth (institution of expansion) to provide opportunities as expected by both the elite and the population, drives an age of crisis by the progeny of the elite and the population.
Or as we would say, the exhaustion of markets of opportunity, and the necessity of market (patterns of sustainable speialization and trade) reorganization (bankruptcy, reorganization) in order to
Ages of Discord and Crisis as Markets – but Markets for What?
—“violation of The First Principles of Polity Persistence”—
Opportunity Seizure:
In the Nli Framework, Elite Overproduction emerges when A New Field of Opportunity opens Up, and Individuals Rush to Exploit These Opportunities, Often in Increasingly Niche Areas. the Market, when Functioning Properly, Regulates These Individuals Through Reciprocity—those Who Provide Value Succeed, and Those Who Don’t Are Eventually Weeded Out when The Opportunity Exhausts Itself. This Process Maintains Balance, as Market Forces Ensure that Individuals Serve Others and Contribute to Overall Societal Benefit.
Stagnation and Maladaptation:
-
- However, when Elites Enter Bureaucratic Roles—which Are Insulated from Market Forces—they Do Not Face the Same Accountability or Self-Correcting Mechanisms.
- Then Bureaucratic Elites can Become Entrenched in Their Positions, Monopolizing Power and Opportunities without Having to Serve the Market.
- This Leads to Stagnation and Resistance to Change, as Bureaucratic Elites, Lacking the Agency to Compete in The Market, Will Do Everything in Their Power to Avoid Returning to It, Often Resisting Reform or Displacement.
Extra-Market Correction:
-
- In This Context, Uprising, Revolt, Revolution, or Civil War becomes One of The only Means to Dislodge Bureaucratic Elites who Have Insulated Themselves from Market Accountability, as No Natural Market Forces Exist to Challenge or Remove Them.
- This Dynamic Creates Tension between Market-Driven Elites and Bureaucratic Elites, with The Former Operating in A System of Natural Cycles and The Latter Resisting Reciprocity and Accountability.
Consequence
Our Explanation Aligns with A Critique of Bureaucratic Overproduction and The Entrenchment of Non-Market Actors, Which Ultimately Leads to Institutional Decay and The Need for External Forces to Reset the System.
Deterministic Outcome for All Human Organizations
In Other Words, in The Absence of Market Forces of Some Sort, Whether Economic, Institutional (procedural), Political, or Judicial, to Regulate the Expansion of Non-Market Actors, All Human Organizations Will Maximize ‘takings’ to The Point at Which the Returns for The ‘customers’ of And ‘investors’ in Those Organizations, Are Victims of Extractions, and The Organization Cannot Adapt to Shocks, Markets, Technology, Crisis, or War.
What Markets Make Aspiration of Classes Possible?
The Benefits of Order:
Surplus Wealth is Made Possible by A Combination of Technological, Economic, Political, and Social Conditions that Allow a Society to Produce More than It Needs for Basic Survival, Thereby Freeing up Resources for Pursuits Beyond Mere Subsistence. Let’s Break Down the Conditions that Enable Surplus Wealth And, by Extension, Allow for Elite Overproduction:
1. Resource Availability and Management
-
- The Availability Of natural Resources—whether Land, Minerals, Water, or Energy—plays a Critical Role in Generating Surplus Wealth. Societies with Abundant Resources Can Extract and Exploit These Resources to Fuel Economic Growth.
- Resource Discovery: in The Most Abstract Sense, Particularly Sources of Energy of Any Kind.
- Resource Management: Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Ensures that Surpluses Continue Over Time. Societies that Successfully Manage Their Resource Extraction and Avoid Depletion Create Long-Term Wealth and Stability.
- The Availability Of natural Resources—whether Land, Minerals, Water, or Energy—plays a Critical Role in Generating Surplus Wealth. Societies with Abundant Resources Can Extract and Exploit These Resources to Fuel Economic Growth.
2. Technological Innovation and Productivity Increases
-
- Technological Advancements are Perhaps the Most Significant Driver of Surplus Wealth. These Innovations Lead to Increased Productivity, Allowing Societies to Produce More Goods and Services with Fewer Inputs of Labor and Time.
- Agricultural Revolutions: The Transition from Hunter-Gatherer Societies to Agricultural Ones Generated the First Major Surpluses in History. Increased Food Production Allowed for Population Growth and The Development of Specialized Roles beyond Farming.
- Industrial Revolutions: Mechanization, Mass Production, and Technological Innovations (e.G., Steam Power, Electricity, the Assembly Line) Drastically Increased Output, Creating Surpluses that Could Support the Rise of Urban Elites, Scientists, Bureaucrats, and Other Specialized Roles.
- Digital and Information Revolution: The Rise of The Digital Economy Has Created New Forms of Wealth, Allowing for Productivity Growth in Sectors Like Finance, Technology, and Communication. This Drives Wealth Creation in Areas Not Tied to Physical Goods, Such as Intellectual Property and Information Economies.
- Technological Advancements are Perhaps the Most Significant Driver of Surplus Wealth. These Innovations Lead to Increased Productivity, Allowing Societies to Produce More Goods and Services with Fewer Inputs of Labor and Time.
3. Efficient Markets and Trade
-
- Market Economies that Efficiently Allocate Resources Allow for The Production of Surplus Wealth. Markets Driven by Supply and Demand Mechanisms, Price Signals, and Competition Encourage Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Efficiency in Production.
- Capitalism and Entrepreneurship: capitalist Systems, by Incentivizing Individuals to Innovate and Take Risks, Generate Wealth by Expanding Production, Developing New Products, and Improving Efficiency.
- International Trade: the Ability to Trade Internationally Opens up New Markets for Goods and Services, Allowing Countries to Specialize in The Production of Certain Items While Importing Others. Trade Encourages Economies of Scale, Leading to Greater Economic Growth and Surplus Wealth Creation.
- Market Economies that Efficiently Allocate Resources Allow for The Production of Surplus Wealth. Markets Driven by Supply and Demand Mechanisms, Price Signals, and Competition Encourage Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Efficiency in Production.
4. Institutional Stability and Rule of Law
-
- Societies with Strong Institutions—such as Property Rights, Contract Enforcement, and Rule of Law—tend to Generate More Wealth Because They Provide the Stability and Security needed for Economic Activities to Flourish.
- Property Rights: Secure Property Rights Encourage Investment, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, as Individuals Feel Confident They Will Reap the Benefits of Their Investments.
- Legal Systems: Courts and Legal Systems that Enforce Contracts and Resolve Disputes Efficiently Reduce the Costs of Doing Business, Fostering an Environment Where Economic Activity Can Thrive.
- Political Stability: Societies that Avoid War, Internal Conflict, and Government Instability create Conditions Where Long-Term Investments in Infrastructure, Technology, and Institutions can Be Made, Further Generating Wealth.
- Societies with Strong Institutions—such as Property Rights, Contract Enforcement, and Rule of Law—tend to Generate More Wealth Because They Provide the Stability and Security needed for Economic Activities to Flourish.
5. Economic Specialization and Division of Labor
-
- Economic Specialization allows Societies to Produce More Efficiently, as Individuals and Groups Can Focus on What They Do Best. Adam Smith’s principle of The Division of Labor explains how Focusing on Specific Tasks Increases Productivity And, by Extension, Wealth.
- Specialized Industries: As Economies Grow, They Develop Highly Specialized Industries—such as Finance, Education, Healthcare, and Technology—which Produce Surplus Wealth by Serving Large Markets and Making Economies More Efficient.
- Urbanization: Cities Serve as Centers of Specialization and Innovation, Bringing Together Diverse Talents and Skills. Urban Economies Often Produce Far More than They Consume, Creating Surpluses that Can Support Both Market and Non-Market Activities (e.G., Cultural Institutions, Governance, Academia).
- Economic Specialization allows Societies to Produce More Efficiently, as Individuals and Groups Can Focus on What They Do Best. Adam Smith’s principle of The Division of Labor explains how Focusing on Specific Tasks Increases Productivity And, by Extension, Wealth.
6. Financial Systems and Capital Accumulation
-
- The Development of Sophisticated Financial Systems allows for The Accumulation of Capital and The Efficient Allocation of Investment into Productive Ventures. Access to Credit, Capital Markets, and Investment Tools drives Economic Growth by Enabling Large-Scale Production and Innovation.
- Banking Systems: Modern Banking Systems, by Offering Loans, Credit, and Investment Services, Help Businesses Expand and Allow Individuals to Pursue Aspirational Ventures, Increasing Overall Wealth.
- Stock Markets and Investment: Stock Markets, by Pooling Capital from A Wide Range of Investors, Fuel the Growth of Large Corporations and Industries, Creating Greater Efficiency and Wealth Creation.
- The Development of Sophisticated Financial Systems allows for The Accumulation of Capital and The Efficient Allocation of Investment into Productive Ventures. Access to Credit, Capital Markets, and Investment Tools drives Economic Growth by Enabling Large-Scale Production and Innovation.
7. Demographic and Human Capital
-
- The Size and Quality of The Labor Force plays a Role in Surplus Wealth Creation. Societies with Growing Populations (demographic Surplus) and Those Investing in Education and Human Capital Development can Produce a More Skilled and Productive Workforce.
- Human Capital: Investments in Education, Healthcare, and Skills Training ensure that The Workforce Is Highly Productive and Capable of Innovating and Adapting to New Economic Conditions.
- Youth and Demographic Surplus: Societies with A Large Working-Age Population relative to Dependents (children and Elderly) Often Experience an Economic Boom, Known as The Demographic Dividend, Which Can Generate Surplus Wealth.
- The Size and Quality of The Labor Force plays a Role in Surplus Wealth Creation. Societies with Growing Populations (demographic Surplus) and Those Investing in Education and Human Capital Development can Produce a More Skilled and Productive Workforce.
8. Globalization and Technological Networking
-
- The Global Economy, with Its Interconnectivity and Access to Diverse Markets, Allows for Wealth Creation on A Global Scale.
- Globalization opens up New Opportunities for Trade, Collaboration, and Investment Across Borders. T
- Echnological Advances (e.G., the Internet, Telecommunications) Enable Rapid Sharing of Information and Resources, Allowing Businesses to Scale More Efficiently and Individuals to Access Global Markets.
- This Facilitates the Generation of Intellectual Capital, Digital Economies, and Global Financial Systems that Contribute to Surplus Wealth.
- The Global Economy, with Its Interconnectivity and Access to Diverse Markets, Allows for Wealth Creation on A Global Scale.
Conclusion: Surplus Wealth Enables Freedom to Aspire
-
- The Surplus Wealth generated by Technological Innovation, Stable Institutions, and Efficient Markets Creates the Conditions for Aspirational Freedom. Individuals No Longer Constrained by Basic Needs Can Pursue Elite Positions where They Are Insulated from Market Risks, and Where Social or Political Status is the Measure of Success Rather than Economic Productivity.
- As Long as There Is Surplus Wealth, People Will Aspire to Positions that Provide Status and Insulation from Market Responsibility, Creating Conditions for Elite Overproduction.
What Is an Elite (versus an Aristocracy)?
(the 1%, the Mandarins in China, the Nobility in Medieval England)
-
- Elite Aspirants (demand)
- Power Positions Available (supply)
The Underlying issue:
- Visible Pseudo Elites: popular, media, intellectual, business, industrial.
- Visible Political Elites: Political and Bureaucratic,
- Invisible Global Demonstrable Elites: Financial elites (money) and Political-Financial Intermediary elites (clintons).
- The Unaccountability of all. Lack of Transparency. Their agenda is destructive of western civilization’s rule of law, responsibility, meritocracy, natural aristocracy (non-credentialed, performative)
Ternary Logic
- Elites Sort Into the Ternary is logic of coercion: They require all three to win.
-
.........Financial Classes
......./...(econ, top)...\
Talking Classes .... State Force Classes
(left bottom) ……….. (right bottom)
-
-
Control of Financial Institutions:
- Quigley claims that a small group of banking and financial elites, primarily based in London and later in New York, exercised significant influence over global finance. He points to families and entities like the Rothschilds and other major banking families who had extensive connections and influence over central banks and international finance systems.
-
Secret Societies and Global Networks:
- One of the most controversial claims involves the existence and influence of secret societies such as the Round Table Groups, founded by figures like Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Milner. These groups, according to Quigley, were aimed at promoting the British Empire’s interests and later evolved into other organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the United States. These organizations purportedly played a substantial role in shaping foreign and domestic policies in Western countries, aiming to create a world federation that aligns with their interests.
-
Influence over Imperial and Global Policies:
- Quigley discusses how these elite groups influenced the policies of the British Empire and, subsequently, the United States and other Western powers. Their strategy included promoting internationalism, shaping colonial policies, and steering economic and military strategies that benefited their broader goals.
-
Manipulation of Historical Events:
- Quigley suggests that these elites not only responded to historical events but actively shaped them to fit their objectives. This includes involvement in the lead-up to both World Wars, the design of the post-World War II economic order (including institutions like the IMF and World Bank), and Cold War strategies.
-
Educational Influence:
- The influence extends into educational realms through funding and establishing research institutes and think tanks that propagate their ideological perspectives. This claim touches on the way these elites have influenced academic discourse and the education of future policymakers in prestigious universities.
-
Economic Engineering:
- The book details how these groups engineered economic conditions to create outcomes that would necessitate certain policy responses. This includes the manipulation of financial markets, trade policies, and national economies to facilitate political changes or maintain economic dominance.
What Does Power Mean?
Power.
- 1) Power consists of the capacity to alter the probability of outcomes.
- 2) There only three categories of influence to coercion and therefore three dimensions of causality to power:
- a) force/defense:military/state
- b) boycott/trade:remuneration/commerce
- c) inclusion/exclusion: social/religious.
- And d) there is only one means of decidability between them: reciprocity (usually the court).
- 3) So I (we) represent this set of relations as a triangle with each point representing the maximum application of that coercive resource, with the means of decidability in the center of that triangle.
- 4) Power then is a resource that can be put to good (defense, trade, inclusion) or enforcement of good (force, boycott, exclusion) or bad (violence, theft, ostracization).
- 5) As such the pursuit of power can be for the purpose of producing reciprocity or irreciprocity or anything in between.
Power, is a resource to be put to good or ill.
Our assertions on power outline a clear framework for understanding how coercion and influence operate across different domains, with reciprocity as the ultimate means of decidability. This triangular model, with the three dimensions of power (force, trade, and inclusion/exclusion), captures how power functions in various contexts, from military and statecraft to commerce and social dynamics.
-
- ( … )
Why Some People Aspire to Elite Positions Over Others
- The Simple Answer: What Is the Source of All Human Behavior? :
( …) -
Escape from Market Pressures: Many Individuals Aspire to Elite Positions Because These Roles Often Provide Insulation from The Competitive Pressures of Market-Driven Careers. Elite Positions in Government, Academia, Cultural Institutions, or Finance offer Prestige and Power without The Direct Consequences of Market Failure.
- In Elite Roles, the Performance Is Often Measured by Social Influence or Political Control, Not by Economic Productivity or Profit Generation.
-
Perception of Status: Certain Occupations—especially in Politics, Media, or Academia—are Culturally Perceived as More Prestigious than Market-Based Careers in Business or Trade. the Desire for Status, Recognition, and Social Capital drives Individuals to Pursue These Careers, Even Though They May Not Contribute Directly to The Economic Engine.
-
Reduction of Accountability: Elite Positions in Bureaucracies or Non-Market Institutions allow Individuals to Wield Authority while Avoiding the Direct Accountability of Market-Based Outcomes. in Many Cases, Failure in These Elite Roles (e.G., Political or Academic Missteps) Does Not Carry the Same Personal Financial Consequences as Business Failures, Making Them Attractive to Those Seeking Power without Risk.
What Makes Elite Overproduction Possible?
-
Elite Overproduction Becomes Possible when A Society Generates Sufficient Surplus Wealth and Stability that Allows a Portion of The Population to Focus on Non-Essential Pursuits—particularly in Fields or Positions that Offer Status, Power, or Influence without Necessarily Contributing Directly to Market Competency or Material Production. to Break This Down Further:
1. Surplus Wealth and Stability Enable Aspiration
-
Economic Surplus: In A Society with Economic Surplus, Individuals No Longer Need to Focus All of Their Efforts on Basic Survival or Essential Work. when A Society Generates Excess Capital through Industrialization, Agriculture, Finance, or Technological Innovation, a Portion of The Population Can Pursue Elite Positions that Are Detached from The Immediate Demands of Market Production.
- Wealth allows People to Invest in Education, Networking, and Cultural Capital, Which Are Key Resources in Aspiring to Elite Status.
- Surplus Also Supports Institutions that Gatekeep elite Positions (universities, Think Tanks, Media Organizations), Creating a Market for Aspirations distinct from The Market for Productivity.
-
Social Stability: When Society Provides a Relatively Stable Environment, Individuals Feel Secure Enough to Aspire to Higher Positions in Politics, Academia, Media, or Other Fields of Influence. Aspiration Is only Possible in A Socially Stable environment Where Individuals Do Not Have to Focus Entirely on Survival or Subsistence.
2. The Escape from Market Competency
-
Occupations Offering Insulation from Market Forces: Many Elite Aspirants Are Drawn to Occupations that Offer Protection from Market Competition, Where Their Success Is Not Directly Measured by Demonstrated Market Competency. These Include:
- Political or Bureaucratic Positions: Positions that Provide Power and Influence without The Need to Compete in A Market. for Example, a Career in Government offers Status and Control Over Resources but Does Not Rely on Producing Goods or Services that Must Compete in The Marketplace.
- Academia and Cultural Institutions: Academia Offers Intellectual Status and Institutional Support, Where Success Is Measured by Reputation and Publications rather than Market Performance.
- Non-Governmental Organizations (ng Os): Positions Within Ng Os Often Focus on Ideological Goals and Social Influence, Where the Ability to Raise Funds or Promote a Cause Is More Important than Market-Based Competency.
-
Escape from Responsibility: These Positions Offer an Escape from The Direct Accountability that Comes with Market Competition. in Market-Driven Occupations, Success Is Based on Competency, Performance, and Responsibility for Outcomes. in Elite Aspirational Positions, Individuals May Avoid the Risks and Consequences that Come with Failure in The Market.
- For Example, a Bureaucrat Who Controls Policy or Regulation May Not Face the Same Consequences for Failure as An Entrepreneur Whose Business Fails Due to Market Forces.
- Individuals Seeking Elite Positions May Choose Fields where Their Power Is Structural or Institutionalized rather than Tied to Their Own Individual Productivity.
3. Cultural Incentives to Aspire
-
Cultural Value of Elitism: Societies Often Celebrate and Reward certain Types of Elite Positions, Making Them Desirable. the Cultural Focus on Political Power, Intellectual Superiority, or Social Influence incentivizes Individuals to Pursue These Paths rather than Market-Based Careers, Where Their Success Would Be Subject to Competition and Objective Performance Metrics.
- Cultural Institutions (media, Academia, Ng Os) Valorize Careers that Are Removed from Direct Market Pressures but Offer Prestige and Social Capital. This Cultural Framing Creates Aspirational Pathways that Encourage Elite Overproduction in Areas Where Responsibility is Diffused or Detached from Market Outcomes.
-
Perceived Status vs. Economic Contribution: Many Aspirants Seek Positions that Offer Status rather than Economic Utility. Occupations in Politics, Academia, and Media offer Social Recognition and Influence without Necessarily Contributing to The Material Economy. This Allows Individuals to Escape the Competitive Pressures of The Marketplace While Still Securing a Position of Authority or Prestige.
4. Institutionalized Aspiration Markets
- Education and Credentialism: In Modern Societies, Higher Education often Serves as A Gatekeeper to Elite Status. However, as Education Becomes More Accessible, Degrees and Credentials become Inflated, and More Individuals Are Drawn Into the Aspiration Market without Corresponding Opportunities. This Creates a Bottleneck, Where Many Highly Educated Individuals Compete for A Fixed Number of Elite Positions.
- Over Time, This Leads to Elite Overproduction as The Market for Credentials continues to Expand, but The Supply of Elite Positions remains Limited.
- Bureaucratic Expansion: The Expansion of Bureaucratic Institutions also Fuels Elite Overproduction. Bureaucracies Offer Stable Employment and Insulation from Market Forces, Attracting Aspirants Who Seek Power and Status without Being Subject to Market-Based Evaluation.
- As Bureaucracies Expand, They Provide More Opportunities for Individuals to Enter Elite Pathways, but These Positions Often Create More Hierarchy and Less Direct Accountability.
5. Conclusion: Surplus Enables Aspiration, but Escaping Accountability Drives Elite Overproduction
- Elite Overproduction Is Possible Because Surplus Wealth and Stability allow Individuals to Aspire to Positions that Are Detached from The Market’s Competitive Pressures. as Societies Become More Prosperous, the Market for Aspirations grows, with More Individuals Pursuing Careers that Offer Status and Power without Requiring Demonstrated Competency in A Market Context.
- The Desire to Escape Market Accountability—to Hold Power or Influence without The Risk of Market Failure—fuels Elite Overproduction, Particularly in Fields Like Politics, Bureaucracy, Academia, and Media, Where Individuals Can Leverage Structural Power and Cultural Prestige without Facing the Responsibility that Comes with Market-Based Success or Failure.
This Framework Explains Why Elite Overproduction Occurs as A Consequence of Surplus, Stability, and The Institutionalization of Aspiration, Combined with The Desire to Avoid Market Accountability.
-
- Or as the greeks would say: the only moral demographic is the middle class who must treat everyone as a customer and preserve all opportunities for future cooperation. Hence the necessity for a large middle class to produce a high trust polity, and to standardize behavior on middle class manners, ethics, and values.
This may sound challenging to the european given that our upper middle classes imitated court behavior, the middle classes then imitated the upper middle classes, and the working classes gradually imitated the middle classes, which produced the manners ethics and morals we attribute to western civilization and the enlightenment.
In our definition of ‘class’ we determine class membership as responsibility. As such as the wealth of the west rose, middle class ethics of sovereignty and reciprocity spread from the feudal down into ranks along with the responsibility necessary to preserve the capital newly available to each class.
Part III
Emergence of Parasitic Elites
A parasitic elite can emerge through various means beyond credentialism, which typically involves the use of formal education and qualifications to secure power and privilege. Other mechanisms that can create or sustain parasitic elites include:
1. Rent-Seeking and Regulatory Capture
- Explanation: Parasitic elites can emerge when individuals or groups use their influence to manipulate regulations and policies to secure economic rents without contributing to productive activities. This occurs when elites gain control over regulatory bodies, influencing policies that allow them to extract wealth from the economy through monopolies, subsidies, or favorable laws.
- Mechanism: By lobbying government officials or controlling key industries, elites can create economic systems that transfer wealth upwards without adding value, sustaining parasitism through political manipulation rather than merit.
- Example: Large corporations securing monopolies or subsidies through lobbying efforts, or financial institutions influencing banking regulations to their advantage.
2. Ideological Hegemony and Cultural Control
- Explanation: Elites can maintain a parasitic position through control of cultural institutions and ideological hegemony, whereby they dominate the narrative in education, media, and public discourse. This allows them to justify their privileged position and suppress dissent.
- Mechanism: By controlling media outlets, academic institutions, and think tanks, elites can promote an ideology that justifies their status (e.g., meritocracy or the inevitability of wealth concentration) while marginalizing alternative views. This ideological control prevents challenges to their authority and allows for the institutionalization of inequality.
- Example: Media moguls who control vast portions of the press and shape public opinion, or intellectual elites who promote policies that favor the elite class (such as global free-market capitalism without protections for labor).
3. Corruption and Nepotism
- Explanation: Parasitic elites can also form through corruption and nepotism, where positions of power are given based on personal relationships or bribery rather than merit or contribution. This leads to inefficient governance and the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of those who use the system to their advantage.
- Mechanism: Bribes, kickbacks, and favoritism within political or corporate structures allow elites to accumulate wealth and influence without accountability. These elites often divert public resources for personal gain, weakening the state and society while enriching themselves.
- Example: Government officials in many developing countries or crony capitalist systems, where contracts and political appointments are awarded based on personal loyalty rather than merit.
4. Financialization and Speculative Markets
- Explanation: The rise of financialization—where the financial sector becomes disproportionately large relative to the productive economy—can create parasitic elites. These elites extract value through speculative practices, often at the expense of long-term economic stability and productivity.
- Mechanism: Financial elites profit from complex financial instruments, high-frequency trading, or leveraged buyouts that extract wealth from companies and the economy without creating new value. These practices often lead to short-term gains for elites but cause instability and stagnation for the broader economy.
- Example: Hedge fund managers and financiers who profit from speculative activities such as derivatives trading, asset bubbles, or corporate raiding (e.g., the 2008 financial crisis caused by speculative trading in mortgage-backed securities).
9. Oligarchy and Control of Critical Industries
- Explanation: Parasitic elites can emerge when a small group of individuals or corporations gain oligarchic control over critical industries—particularly those with low competition and high barriers to entry—allowing them to extract rents and influence policy in their favor.
- Mechanism: By controlling industries such as energy, telecommunications, or finance, elites can limit competition, set prices, and manipulate markets to generate wealth disproportionately at the expense of the general population.
- Example: Russian oligarchs who gained control of state assets during the post-Soviet privatization process, extracting vast wealth without generating new value.
10. Hereditary Privilege and Dynastic Wealth
- Explanation: A parasitic elite can also form through inheritance and family networks, where wealth and power are passed down through generations, allowing elites to accumulate capital and influence without producing new value.
- Mechanism: Inheritance laws, patronage systems, and intermarriage among elites allow wealth and power to remain within specific families or groups, maintaining their status and influence across generations. These elites often extract rents through ownership of land, capital, or resources.
- Example: Aristocracies in monarchic societies, or modern dynastic families controlling significant portions of the economy (e.g., the Walton family’s control over Walmart or family-run media empires).
8. Credentialism and Institutional Gatekeeping
- Explanation: Credentialism creates a parasitic elite by institutionalizing gatekeeping through educational or professional qualifications, allowing those who control the credentials to monopolize access to elite positions.
- Mechanism: Credentialism relies on the inflation of educational requirements, where elites set barriers to entry (e.g., advanced degrees, certifications) that restrict access to high-status occupations. This allows those within the system to exclude competition and maintain their status without direct market accountability.
- Example: The expansion of advanced degrees (e.g., PhDs for academic positions, MBAs for corporate roles), creating a system where credentials, rather than demonstrated competency, become the measure of access and authority.
7. Political Elites and Gerrymandering/Institutional Manipulation
- Explanation: Political elites can maintain parasitic control through the manipulation of electoral systems (gerrymandering, voter suppression) or the creation of institutional structures that make it difficult to challenge their power.
- Mechanism: These elites stay in power by controlling the rules of the political game—whether through manipulating electoral districts, suppressing opposition, or using bureaucratic control to block political reforms. By insulating themselves from democratic accountability, they extract rents without contributing to the common good.
- Example: Political elites in many countries manipulate electoral districts to ensure their party’s dominance, or they use legal loopholes to evade transparency and oversight.
6. Military Elites and Coercive Power
- Explanation: Military elites can form a parasitic class when they gain control over the state’s coercive apparatus and extract wealth through the threat of violence or control of the state’s military resources.
- Mechanism: These elites maintain power by controlling the armed forces, using their military might to extract rents from the population, monopolize resources, or maintain control over the political system. Their parasitic nature comes from their reliance on coercion rather than productive contributions to society.
- Example: Military dictatorships or juntas, such as those seen in Myanmar or Egypt, where military leaders extract resources and influence through force.
5. Academic, Media, Religious or Theocratic Elites
- Explanation: In some societies, elites maintain power through religious authority or theocratic control. These elites extract wealth and control from the population by claiming spiritual or divine legitimacy, often suppressing dissent by invoking religious dogma.
- Mechanism: By controlling religious institutions, elites can extract tithes, donations, or even political power through theocratic governance. They maintain power by controlling access to spiritual authority and punishing those who challenge their divine right to rule.
- Example: The Catholic Church during the medieval period, or modern theocratic regimes where religious elites hold both spiritual and political power.
Conclusion:
There are many pathways through which elites can emerge and become parasitic. These include rent-seeking, hereditary privilege, oligarchic control of industries, ideological control, corruption, financialization, theocracy, military dominance, and political manipulation. Each of these mechanisms relies on the accumulation of power and influence through non-productive means, often at the expense of the broader population and reciprocal accountability.
Each of these mechanisms shows how elites sustain themselves through non-productive or non-reciprocal means, whether through control over resources, ideology, or institutions. Credentialism, as part of this list, highlights the ways in which institutional barriers can be constructed to monopolize status and influence, making it an integral part of understanding elite parasitism.
Our emphasis on the importance of reciprocity, meritocracy, and proportionality can be extended to explain how these elites undermine those principles across various institutions and sectors.
The Emergence of Parasitic Anti-Elites
Now let’s flip it around. By what means can a class or classes, buoyed by a resource ‘curse’, repeated success in war and conquest, economic, scientific, or technological innovation, or even cultural and institutional superiority of evolution, that has increased the agency of those previously bound by scarcity, seek to impose parasitic irreciprocities upon other classes? Especially classes above them?
ChatGPT said:
This is an inversion of the typical narrative of parasitism, where instead of elites imposing parasitic irreciprocity upon lower classes, upward parasitism occurs when a class or group, buoyed by resource wealth, conquest, innovation, or institutional success, imposes parasitic irreciprocity upon higher classes. Here are several means by which a rising class can impose parasitism on classes above them:
1. Exploiting Economic Leverage (Resource Curse or Economic Success)
-
Mechanism: Classes with newfound wealth—often through a resource boom or economic dominance—can use their control over key resources to impose economic parasitism on wealthier or higher-status groups. By leveraging their monopoly on essential resources (oil, minerals, food, etc.), they can extract rents from other classes, including the elites above them, by manipulating prices, access, or distribution.
-
Example:
- OPEC: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), representing oil-rich countries that were historically less economically developed, used its control of global oil markets to impose economic pressure and extract disproportionate wealth from industrialized countries dependent on oil.
- Tech Giants: Tech companies, originally started by entrepreneurial outsiders, leveraged their control over digital infrastructure and data to extract rents from older industries and governments.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: The newly empowered class uses its monopoly on resources or economic power to extract wealth or compliance from traditional elites, essentially reversing the parasitic relationship by imposing economic constraints on those who were previously dominant.
2. Political Populism and Mass Mobilization Against Elites
-
Mechanism: Populist movements, often led by newly rising groups who feel emboldened by economic or political success, can mobilize the masses against higher-status classes. These movements often claim to represent the “will of the people” but impose parasitic irreciprocities on elites by dismantling their privileges, confiscating their wealth, or imposing policies that disproportionately benefit the lower class at the expense of those at the top.
-
Example:
- French Revolution: The sans-culottes and rising bourgeoisie in revolutionary France imposed parasitic irreciprocities on the nobility and clergy by using mass political power to expropriate wealth, abolish privileges, and undermine their social status.
- 20th-Century Populist Regimes: In Latin America, populist leaders like Juan Perón in Argentina used state power to redistribute wealth from the upper classes to the working class, enacting policies that imposed a disproportionate burden on traditional elites through taxes, land reform, and regulations.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: The rising class uses political power and mass mobilization to strip elites of their assets or influence, often redistributing resources without reciprocal benefit to those above them, thus turning elites into a burdened class.
3. Technological or Scientific Innovation as a Tool of Leverage
-
Mechanism: A class that achieves technological or scientific breakthroughs can use this leverage to impose new power structures. By monopolizing key technologies or scientific advancements, they can impose control over industries, labor markets, or even governance, forcing elites to conform to their new technological paradigms.
-
Example:
- Industrial Capitalists: The industrial revolution, led by a rising capitalist class, imposed parasitic irreciprocities on traditional land-owning elites (the aristocracy), who were forced to adapt to industrial economies where their traditional power and land wealth became less relevant. Industrialists, through control of factories, infrastructure, and capital, shifted power away from agrarian elites.
- Silicon Valley: Tech entrepreneurs who pioneered the digital revolution (e.g., Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk) have imposed new economic structures on traditional industries, forcing legacy companies (media, retail, manufacturing) and governments to adopt their platforms and services, often at their economic or cultural expense.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: The rising class imposes new technological norms or innovations that undermine the economic or political power of the elites, creating asymmetries of influence where the elite class is forced to depend on the innovations of the lower class without gaining proportional benefits.
4. Weaponizing Cultural and Ideological Movements
-
Mechanism: Rising classes can weaponize cultural or ideological movements to undermine the power of elites by discrediting their values, traditions, or authority. Cultural revolutions, where a new class challenges the dominant narrative, can destabilize elites by removing the moral or intellectual legitimacy they once relied on.
-
Example:
- Cultural Revolution in China: Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution mobilized the youth (Red Guards) and other segments of society to attack the Confucian intellectual elite and former bureaucratic class, using revolutionary ideology to undermine the authority of traditional elites. The intellectuals and cultural leaders were humiliated, forced into labor, or re-educated.
- 1960s Counterculture: In the U.S., the countercultural movement of the 1960s, driven largely by young people and intellectuals, attacked the established cultural norms of the upper middle class and traditional elites, promoting new social, sexual, and political values that diminished the cultural authority of older generations.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: A rising class uses cultural or ideological movements to delegitimize elite values, effectively forcing elites to capitulate to new norms and diminishing their capacity to wield power. The new class benefits from creating a cultural vacuum that they fill with their own ideas, often at the expense of those who previously defined societal values.
5. Legal and Institutional Capture by Emerging Classes
-
Mechanism: Newly powerful classes can seek to capture legal and institutional frameworks by infiltrating or influencing the judicial, legislative, or bureaucratic systems, turning them into instruments that benefit their class interests while imposing costs or restrictions on elites. This method is particularly potent when the rising class uses the legal system to expropriate wealth or dismantle elite privileges.
-
Example:
- Bolshevik Revolution: The Bolsheviks used state control after the Russian Revolution to systematically expropriate wealth from the nobility and bourgeoisie, confiscating property, nationalizing industries, and imposing legal structures that favored the working class while parasitically exploiting the elites who were forced into exile or submission.
- American Progressivism and Trust-Busting: The Progressive Era in the U.S. saw rising business interests and the middle class use government and legal systems to break up monopolies and curtail the power of industrial barons like the Rockefellers and Carnegies. The implementation of antitrust laws redistributed economic power away from established elites to benefit rising economic forces.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: By capturing institutional control, rising classes impose legal frameworks that limit elite wealth and influence, extracting rents through the mechanisms of regulation, nationalization, or expropriation, turning elites into targets for legal disenfranchisement.
6. Market Manipulation and Financial Speculation
-
Mechanism: A rising class that gains access to financial markets or speculative tools can use market manipulation to destabilize elite-controlled industries or extract wealth through financial instruments that disproportionately benefit the rising class at the expense of traditional elites.
-
Example:
- Hedge Funds and Short Selling: In modern financial markets, hedge funds and speculative investors can short sell stocks of elite-controlled companies or industries, profiting from their decline. This financial manipulation can extract massive wealth from traditional industries, forcing established elites to bear the cost of market speculation.
- Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: The rise of cryptocurrency, driven by tech-savvy outsiders, has created a new financial system that challenges the monetary control of traditional banking and financial elites, forcing them to adapt to a decentralized system that disrupts their control over capital.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: Financial innovation or manipulation allows rising classes to disproportionately benefit from market disruptions, depleting the wealth of established elites while imposing new economic paradigms that the old guard must adhere to.
7. Labor Movements and Worker Collectives
-
Mechanism: Worker movements and unions, particularly during times of economic success or industrial growth, can impose parasitic irreciprocities on the ownership class or corporate elites through labor strikes, workplace control, or collective bargaining. By using the threat of economic disruption, workers extract concessions that transfer wealth upward from elites.
-
Example:
- Post-War Labor Movements: In the post-World War II period, strong labor unions in the U.S. and Europe forced concessions from industrial and corporate elites through strikes and collective bargaining agreements that imposed higher wages, benefits, and job security at the cost of corporate profits and flexibility.
- Worker Cooperatives: In countries like Spain (e.g., the Mondragon Corporation), worker cooperatives have succeeded in creating structures where workers, not traditional corporate elites, control the means of production, forcing capital owners to adapt to new models of governance that reduce elite influence.
-
Parasitic Irreciprocity: Rising labor movements impose costs on corporate elites by extracting economic rents through collective action, using their growing power to diminish elite control over industry and wealth distribution.
8. The Talking Classes (Academy, Media, Education, and Entertainment)
- Mechanism: The “talking classes” include those who control public discourse, cultural narratives, and educational gatekeeping. By shaping ideologies and narratives, these elites can influence the perceptions, values, and norms of other elites, particularly those whose power is based on wealth or political status. This control can be used to delegitimize traditional elites and impose new cultural norms.
- Example:
- Academic and Media Hegemony: In modern societies, control over academic institutions, media outlets, and educational systems allows the talking classes to promote ideologies that diminish the authority of economic and political elites, reshaping norms around wealth, race, gender, or power.
- Parasitic Irreciprocity: The talking classes impose their own narrative authority, forcing other elites to conform or risk delegitimization in the eyes of the public. This shifts power away from traditional elites, allowing the talking classes to dominate cultural production and maintain influence despite lacking direct economic or political control.
Conclusion:
A rising class buoyed by economic success, war, innovation, or cultural superiority can impose parasitic irreciprocities upon elites in various ways. These include leveraging economic power, mass mobilization, technological dominance, cultural revolution, legal capture, market manipulation, and labor movements to disproportionately extract wealth or power from traditional elites. The mechanism often involves using newfound leverage to displace the elite class from their dominant position, forcing them to adapt to new power structures that favor the rising class at their expense.
TAKEAWAY
Elites produce the market demand for authority and rule by man by producing discord, by suppressing markets for sovereignty and reciprocity, just as the middle class produces the market demand for sovereignty, reciprocity, and rule of law by fomenting cooperation between sexes can classes and ethnicities and civilizations.