The ruling class

Article

James Burnham's Managerial Elite

Summary

The author makes the case for the relevance of an economic analysis from the 50's called managerialism. Managerialism holds that the ascendence of elites into control of the corporate and public sector based on their superior knowledge and network, is the reason for our current political disarray and economic disfunction.

Quote

Conservative polemicists have long presented a caricature of a decadent liberal elite, and liberals have offered a competing caricature of a conservative plutocracy. But few have attempted to understand how these ostensible opponents function as elements of the same elite, or how they have participated in maintaining the broader intellectual, political, and economic status quo.

Understanding

My advanced degree, college administrator role and six-figure income place me in the managerial class. Because our status is derived from our competence, and not our ability to create value, the managerial elite controls the largest share of the pie without necessarily needing to create more berries, flour and sugar for the workers. The baking class will produce the pie for us and all we have to do is pay what we can easily afford.

No wonder their resentment is seething. No wonder they voted against the status quo of both political parties. The pie consuming class looks the same whether we are registered Republican or Democrat. We take whatever we want and leave the baking class to sweep the crumbs away.