Generally the rulers seek to favor their own needs, leaving aside the welfare of the population. Taking this into account, the following main characteristics can be extracted: This results in the enactment of laws that benefit only the wealthy. The main characteristic of plutocracy consists in the fact that the control of a government is governed by economic forces or powers. In other words, for some centuries in the history of mankind money was power, while in our days power is money, since the rulers have the property of the State to carry out their political activities. Despite this, political leaders are not chosen for their purchasing power, but for their speech and ideas. ![]() However, power is maintained through a close relationship with money, since it allows the acquisition of many goods. Today, many rulers continue to maintain large private fortunes, especially in the United States However, the State can maintain itself without the political participation of the great magnates, since it has its own administration. This means that at that time power was found in the political leaders, while prestige was an emblem of the academic world, whether scientific or intellectual, regardless of economic capacity. ![]() From the 19th century to the presentĪt the end of the 19th century, a change occurred in the perception of power, due to the fact that the link between the elements of money, prestige and rank were reached in different ways and it was no longer necessary to complement with any of the others.įor example, Queen Victoria decided to grant the last duchy to Hugh Wellington in 1874, who at that time was the richest man in England and had little connection with the nobility.ĭespite the money, Wellington did not maintain any kind of participation in the public scene, nor did he obtain any kind of prestige. This lasted until the beginning of the 19th century, when owning wealth was equivalent to having power, which guaranteed that any perpetuation had to be based on money, which has always been more important or fluctuating than lineage. Likewise, the author proposes that, underneath the arms and family shields, it is possible to perceive how wealth has been maintained as the only pattern that allows inventions, perpetuations or supplantation of political positions throughout the history. There was also a percentage of hierarchies that, through their wealth, consolidated their introduction into government rights. Plutocracy in the Middle AgesĪccording to Rafael Sánchez Saus, an expert author in medieval history, during the Middle Ages it was not necessarily the oldest families that had access to power, as is generally believed. For this reason, Rafael Atienza argues that all - cracias are exclusive, since it implies that the Kratos or the power is characteristic of a certain group of people.Īs a consequence, a set of reforms was carried out that introduced citizen suffrage for the first time. The term plutocracy ( ploutokratia) comes from the union of two Greek words: it is composed of ploutos, which means "wealth" Y Kratos, which means "power". However, other authors such as Ariño Villaroya defend the possible configuration of a global plutocracy in the coming years, arguing that this social category is constantly growing since the globalization process that began in the eighties. Likewise, some experts consider that the different cracias they have been losing their authorship in modern western societies, since at present it is sought to defend democracy above any other form of government. ![]() ![]() In other words, according to this author, any term that has the suffix - cracia it will always be exclusive because it necessarily implies that not everyone can command power can only be given to a particular group of people. However, authors such as Rafael Atienza establish that any term with the Greek suffix - cracia It ends up being exclusive, since this suffix refers to a particular form of government or power that marginalizes the rest of the population, such as theocracy, hierocracy - government of the priests - or bureaucracy. Generally, the term plutocracy is used in a pejorative sense, since it is considered that this form of government violates democratic values and the principles of equality, since this oligarchy is based on the exclusion of other social groups that, because they do not have money They are not part of the political decisions of the State. The plutocracy it is a form of government or oligarchy in which a community is governed by a wealthy minority In other words, it is a state that is controlled by a group of people belonging to the richest stratum of society.
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