Abstract
Norwegian elites do not seem to hold elitist or arrogant ideas about the population to the same extent as elites elsewhere in the world. Admittedly, elites express concerns about high levels of political indifference among citizens. Moreover, about half of the members of the national elite fear that citizens are too easily influenced by charismatic politicians. Nevertheless, they are not worried about voters’ level of competence. The elites in Norway are critical towards the politicians’ inclination to follow the sways of opinion among the voters. But such critical attitudes have not led to widespread anti-democratic elitist sentiments. Elites’ elitist opinions seem to be primarily related to the elite persons’ ideological stance. The analyses presented in this chapter demonstrate that elite individuals who endorse a right-wing ideology overall express more strongly elitist views.
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Gulbrandsen, T. (2019). Are Norwegian Elites Elitist?. In: Elites in an Egalitarian Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95984-9_7
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