8 Comments
Nov 6·edited Nov 6Liked by Ted Bauer

If I understand the Turchin analysis correctly (only read one of his books), Trump and Vance would be examples of "counter-elites". They are elites that are openly defecting against the elites, as a class, in order to form a political alliance with the non-elite majority. In his analysis, this is caused by elite overproduction; when there is no overproduction, elites exhibit relative class solidarity because there's more than enough "elite pie" to share. When there's overproduction, some elites start to find they can't get the slice of the pie that they feel is their due and so they go "counter-elite", looking to ally with the majority to usurp the pie from the other elites and thereby get access to their slice of it.

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author

I get it. But aren’t they inherently also elites? By definition?

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Yes, I think counter-elites would be elite.

But perhaps imagine some feudal nobleman trying to incite a rebellion against his enemies saying, "The nobility hates me!"

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Nov 8Liked by Ted Bauer

In what sense have Vance or Trump not received a fair slice of the elite pie?

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author

They are elites. I was moreso speaking to branding.

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I never used the word "fair." I said, "slice of the pie that they feel is their due."

The entire idea of elite overproduction is that elites always and everywhere think they deserve more than hoi polloi. When you take a peasant by birth and elevate him to elite status (in our society: by awarding him elite education credentials), his expectations for his life increase, and if reality doesn't match those expectations, discontent follows.

This can apply to elites at the very top -- the guy who is shut out of old-fashioned politics but can run and win the White House by breaking all the rules -- all the way down to the guy who graduates from an Ivy League school with a journalism major and ends up a struggling and unhappy freelancer.

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What does the title have to do with the article? I’m missing something.

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Re: "Even though many colleges just spend money to overstaff on mid-tier, pointless admin-type roles."

Also lavishly paid executive roles, such as Vice-Deans and Vice-Presidents.

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