Jeffrey Winters’ Oligarchy is quite a stunning book. It is a simultaneously bold and timid attempt at a theory of oligarchy as the ‘politics of wealth defence’. Winters begins with oligarchs, who are defined as extremely wealthy individuals at the top echelon of the wealth ladder of a highly stratified society. The core interest of the oligarchs lies in the defence of their property. The great wealth of these individuals compels them to seek ways to defend it. Threats of confiscation may come from above — by the state, from below — by the poor masses and the ‘mass affluent,' and horizontally — from other oligarchs. An account of the historical strategies that oligarchs have used to try to deal with these threats constitutes a virtual natural history of oligarchy. The typology used by Winters illustrates both the boldness and the timidity of his formulation.
The Defence of Property
The Defence of Property
The Defence of Property
Jeffrey Winters’ Oligarchy is quite a stunning book. It is a simultaneously bold and timid attempt at a theory of oligarchy as the ‘politics of wealth defence’. Winters begins with oligarchs, who are defined as extremely wealthy individuals at the top echelon of the wealth ladder of a highly stratified society. The core interest of the oligarchs lies in the defence of their property. The great wealth of these individuals compels them to seek ways to defend it. Threats of confiscation may come from above — by the state, from below — by the poor masses and the ‘mass affluent,' and horizontally — from other oligarchs. An account of the historical strategies that oligarchs have used to try to deal with these threats constitutes a virtual natural history of oligarchy. The typology used by Winters illustrates both the boldness and the timidity of his formulation.