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Economic Elites

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Abstract

The economic elite has been seen by some researchers as the most dominant of the sectoral elites while being vigorously rejected as such by others. Nonetheless, there is a general consensus that the economic elite is one of the central elites. Four types of economic elite formation can be identified: the French type, the Japanese type, the British/US type and the German type. They differ with regard to the importance of elite universities and the extent of cross-sectoral mobility. However, a transnational or global business elite is difficult to discern and many researchers deny that such an elite exists. Research has shown, for example, that of the CEOs of the 1000 biggest companies of the world, only one in eight is a foreigner and three out of four have never stayed abroad for more than six months. Connections between economic and explicitly political elites clearly differ from country to country.

The chapter is translated from the German work by Jan-Peter Herrmann and Loren Balhorn.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Michael Hartmann

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  1. Michael Hartmann
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany

    Heinrich Best

  2. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    John Higley

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Hartmann, M. (2018). Economic Elites. In: Best, H., Higley, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Political Elites. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51904-7_26

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