Many consider that, behind the veil of a supposed representative democracy, this form of oligarchy is actually hidden, which has nothing to do with the hackneyed “government of the people and for the people.” After all, if those elected by the people (democracy) are actually puppets of the powerful rich and must act at their whim, we are already talking about plutocracy. Plutocracy: the prostitution of democracy? In addition, in a plutocracy, the ruling class holds all the material goods that a country has, something that reinforces the factual power that, by its nature, they already possess. Thus, the governed would live subject to and conditioned by the will of the few who were in power, whose interests would prevail over those of the majority. This power elite would seek the monopolization of all the resources and tools available to a system, regardless of the form of citizen participation or whichever political system it governed to get the most out of it and guarantee its maintenance. ? We call ‘plutocracy’ a form of government that is based on control of the population, exercised by a minority of inhabitants with a higher economic level. You may be interested: Ochlocracy: what it is, definition and 4 examples.? And most importantly: what does it mean to live in a plutocracy? In this sense, what would a system based on plutocracy look like?Īt a time when democracy seems so questionable, would it really be such a bad option Plutocracy is often used alongside other critical terms for corrupt or unjust forms of government, such as oligarchy (a system in which power is held by a small group of people) and autocracy (a government in which one person has unlimited power).Frequently, at a certain existential point, and considering certain living conditions, citizens question what would be the ideal style of government that would guarantee greater social welfare. Instead, the term is often used to imply that such a system leads to corruption and oppression-no matter what the official form of government is or what the specific politics of its leaders are. Plutocracy does not imply a specific political doctrine or philosophy. In a plutocracy, rich people have the power. The first part of the word comes from ploûto(s), meaning “wealth.” (The name of the god Pluto of Greek mythology-for whom the dwarf planet is named-comes from the related Greek Ploutōn, meaning “the rich one.”) The second part of the word comes from the Greek -kratia, which means “rule” or “power” and gives us the suffix -cracy, which is used in many terms for forms of government, such as democracy and bureaucracy. The first records of the word plutocracy come from around 1650. It can also refer to the wealthy class that is using wealth to rule, as in The businessman was accused of being a member of the plutocracy.Ī wealthy person who rules or influences leaders in a plutocracy can be called a plutocrat.Įxample: Average citizens are angry because they believe billionaires have turned the government into a plutocracy to benefit themselves. Plutocracy can also refer to the power that this kind of wealth can allow, as in His latest column explains his belief that the government has been corrupted by plutocracy. It is frequently used as a way of pointing out inequality and the powerful influence of the wealthy in politics and government.Ī country that is thought to have a plutocratic government can also be referred to as a plutocracy, as in Many outsiders saw the nation as an oppressive plutocracy. Plutocracy is never used as an official term for a form of government (like democracy is, for example)-it’s almost always applied as a criticism of such situations. This can mean that wealthy people are the actual leaders, or that they influence or control the decisions that the leaders make. Plutocracy is a term for a government in which wealthy people use their wealth to rule.
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