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I think aside from a brief period in the 80s (movies like Pretty Woman came out of it), investors have usually been the #1 villains. Only Wall Street though. I don’t think the idea of a venture capitalist ever popped enough to be either hero or villain elite.
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Seriously. Can anyone think of *any* class of elites that enjoys broad-based admiration today? Or alternatively, if you wanted generally unqualified positive societal regard, what kind of elite would you try to be?
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Wonder how much of it is explained by a) elite ugliness exposed in harsh light of digital scrutiny b) growing non-elite misery from relative deprivation c) previously examples being unchallenged myths (ie rocket scientists etc were never actually admired like we assumed)
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Hard to go pre-ww2, since mass culture was less of a thing and life was more local while mass media was emerging, but best guess... 1890s: robber barons (Horatio Alger stories?) 1900s: Edwardian bourgeoisie 1910s: military 1920s: artists/writers? 1930s: socialist politicians
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Replying to @vgr
you started in the 40s but I wonder about say, the 20s and 30s? elites can't have been too popular during the depression... tho maybe "titans of industry" like henry ford etc might've still been cool, especially without social media to expose ugly stuff
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The developing world used to be much simpler (dunno about now) because there’s not enough literacy to admire knowledge-based elites. India was pretty much cricket players, charismatic politicians like Indira Gandhi and religious leaders (guru types with national appeal)
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Very real possibility. “Elite” may be an impossible sort of mythology to sustain now. Nietzsche declared god dead in the 19th century. Barthes declared the author (a specific kind of elite) dead in the 20th century. Maybe 21st century is death of the elite in general.
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Replying to @vgr
Elites have outlived their usefulness. All the information they've gathered, about building various storage, analytical and distribution systems, has been internalized by the surrounding structure. Now all that remains is to move on.
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Socialist eras keep trying to install a humble non-elite role in the admired role (farmer, ordinary conscript anonymous soldier as opposed to elite decorated officer hero like Patton) but it never quite works. People want names to celebrate and actual airbrushed stories.
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And speaking of airbrushing, I don’t think what I call cosmetic elites (actors, musicians, comedians, artists, writers, academics) ever rise to top-tier elite status because they are seen as only reflecting and showcasing the real doer elites at best, and bought-off at worst.
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Replying to
Yeah, except some academics like Ramanujan or Newton or George Church are stars - aspirational elites - within a certain intellectual subculture, and that is unlikely to change, but they will never be elites to the culture at large
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I was merely quibbling that sometimes they are seen as doers, but I feel you, it's not the same as the sociological function we're looking for. Elon Musk probably comes closest in terms of broad-based admiration. Normies I encounter are all very much aware of SpaceX progress.
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