Elitism

ELITISM, IN ITS POLITICAL SENSE, expresses the attitude that society should be governed by a group of selected persons, elites, who are believed to have distinct and superior qualities. This definition refers to a set of political and cultural beliefs that excludes the views of the majority of people from the process of decision-making and concentrates power in the hands of a small minority. Here lies the distinction between the elite group, which is supposed to monopolize (social, cultural, and political) knowledge, and ordinary people, who are considered ignorant and uneducated. This may be explained in terms of an elitist position reflecting members' views in a favored group.

Historically, the development of the term elitism has come with the evolution of the word elite. Elite was ...