220112 Of Old an New Gilded Ages: Elites and Oligarchies in the Americas from the 19th Century until today (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

Extreme wealth and the question of elites has been neglected as a topic in the social sciences and history in recent decades. However, with the extreme social polarization denounced by movements and NGOs such as Oxfam and Occupy Wall Street - according to which 1 percent of humanity has more wealth than the rest of the world's population - the question of economic elites is back on the agenda. In political terms, there is also the question of the influence of “tech aristocrats” such as Musk and Co. in the USA or of Latin American billionaires in politics and society. The formation of elites and oligarchies in the Americas is not just a recent phenomenon. In this course, the so-called “New Gilded Age” is placed in relation to the “Gilded Age” and the oligarchic republics of the last third of the 19th century. For Latin America in particular, the colonial roots of political, economic and cultural elites will also be examined in this seminar. Futhermore, we will discuss new and classical appoaches to conceptualize elites and oligarchies.

Bibliography

Bibliography (very short selection…)
Fernández Milmanda, Belén (2025). Agrarian Elites and Democracy in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Fraser, Steve (2015): The Age of Acquiescence. The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power. Little Brown and Company: New York
Imbusch, Peter (2010). Soziologie der Eliten, Wiesbaden.
Veblen, Thorstein. (1899): The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. New York: Macmillan. Available at the Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg.
Waldmann, Peter (2021). Oligarchie in Lateinamerika Dominante Familiennetzwerke im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert Campus Verlag Frankfurt/New York.