Towards a global plutocracy?

Abstract

The economic crisis has prompted an increasing interest about the growing asymmetries in the concentration of wealth. The focus has been put especially on the richest 1% of the population. It has not been studied, however, the way in which these elites have come about and how they have acted for several decades as a global plutocracy, developing internationalization strategies and a tendency to secede from society, as well as to project a decisive power in the dynamics of the world. To show this is the main purpose of this paper, that additionally analyzes the ontological status of this social category acting on a global scale, and outlines some implications deriving from this issue.

In order to explain this, a completely new range of sources in sociological research is used, such as annual reports from major banks, and companies that have emerged recently which are specially dedicated to monitoring large fortunes and generating feedback about them.