Abstract
A principal characteristic of the super-rich today is their distance from the constraints of public institutions, discourses, identities and legal constraints. It is not clear that conventional theories of class or elites adequately capture the way in which wealth is insulated from political or public interference. Inspired by Simmel’s account of money as a type of teleological vacuum—a sheer absence of any fixed purpose—this chapter considers an alternative way of conceiving of the super-rich, in terms of networks of ‘agents’ or intermediaries. It is argued that ‘agents’ represent an important constituent in the contemporary political economy of the super-rich, because they act on behalf of the very wealthy, so as to prevent wealth from becoming embroiled in political or cultural controversies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abbott, A. D. (1988). The system of professions: An essay on the division of expert labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Berlin, I. (2002). Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Blythe, M. (2012). Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boltanski, L., & Thévenot, L. (2006). On justification: Economies of worth. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bowman, A., et al. (2013). Business elites and undemocracy in Britain. CRESC Working Paper No. 125.
Boyer, R. (2000). Is a finance-led growth regime a viable alternative to Fordism? A preliminary analysis. Economy & Society, 29(1), 111–145.
Burrows, R. (2013). The new gilded ghettoes. Discover Society, p. 3. Retrieved April 2015, from http://www.discoversociety.org/2013/12/03/the-new-gilded-ghettos-the-geodemographics-of-the-super-rich/
Callon, M. (Ed.). (1998). The laws of the markets. Oxford: Blackwell.
Chandler, A. (1977). The visible hand: The managerial revolution in American business. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Crouch, C. (2011). The strange non-death of neoliberalism. Cambridge: Polity.
Dardot, P., & Laval, C. (2014). The new way of the world: On neoliberal society. London: Verso.
Davies, W. (2014a). The tyranny of intermediaries: Who writes the rules of our modern capitalism? Juncture. Retrieved from http://www.ippr.org/juncture/the-tyranny-of-intermediaries-who-writes-the-rules-of-our-modern-capitalism
Davies, W. (2014b). The limits of neoliberalism: Authority, sovereignty and the logic of competition. London: SAGE.
Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the societies of control. October, 59, 3–7.
Dorling, D. (2014). Inequality and the 1%. London: Verso Books.
Erturk, I., Froud, J., Johal, S., Leaver, A., & Williams, K. (2007). Against agency: A positional critique. Economy and Society, 36(1), 51–77.
Froud, J. (2006). Financialization and strategy: Narrative and numbers. London: Routledge.
Glucksberg, L. (2014). On the frontline: Family offices and the lives of the super-rich. Discover Society, p. 15. Retrieved April 2015, from http://www.discoversociety.org/2014/12/01/on-the-frontline-family-offices-and-the-lives-of-the-super-rich/
Graham, S., & Hewitt, L. (2013). Getting off the ground: On the politics of urban verticality. Progress in Human Geography, 37(1), 72–92.
Haldane, A. (2012). Towards a common financial language. Retrieved from http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/news/2012/029.aspx
von Hayek, F. A. (1944). The road to serfdom. London: G. Routledge & Sons.
Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Khurana, R. (2007). From higher aims to hired hands: The social transformation of American business schools and the unfulfilled promise of management as a profession. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kunkel, B. (2014). Paupers and richlings. London Review of Books, 36(13), 17–20.
Lapavitsas, C. (2013). Profiting without producing: How finance exploits us all. London: Verso.
Lazonick, W., & O’Sullivan, M. (2000). Maximizing shareholder value: A new ideology for corporate governance. Economy and Society, 29(1), 13–35.
MacKenzie, D. (2014). Be grateful for drizzle. London Review of Books, 36(17), 27–30.
MacKenzie, D. A., et al. (Eds.). (2007). Do economists make markets? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Mills, C. W. (1999). The power elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mirowski, P. (2009). Postscript. In P. Mirowski & D. Plehwe (Eds.), The road from Mont Pèlerin: The making of the neoliberal thought collective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mirowski, P. (2013). Never let a serious crisis go to waste: How neoliberalism survived the financial meltdown. London: Verso Books.
Mizruchi, M. S. (2013). The fracturing of the American corporate elite. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Peck, J. (2010). Constructions of neoliberal reason. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Perkin, H. (2003). The rise of professional society: England since 1880. London: Routledge.
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty-first century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Polanyi, K. (1957). The great transformation: The political and economic origins of our time. Boston: Beacon Press.
Power, M. (1997). The audit society: Rituals of verification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Savage, M. (2014a). Piketty’s challenge for sociology. The British Journal of Sociology, 65(4), 591–606.
Savage, M. (2014b). Social change in the 21st century: The new sociology of ‘wealth elites’. Discover Society, p. 15. Retrieved December 15, 2014, from http://www.discoversociety.org/2014/12/01/focus-social-change-in-the-21st-century-the-new-sociology-of-wealth-elites
Savage, M., & Williams, K. (2008). Remembering elites. Oxford: Blackwell Pub.
Simmel, G. (2004). The philosophy of money (3rd rev. ed.). London: Routledge.
Streeck, W. (2014). Buying time: The delayed crisis of democratic capitalism. London: Verso.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Davies, W. (2017). Elites Without Hierarchies: Intermediaries, ‘Agency’ and the Super-Rich. In: Forrest, R., Koh, S., Wissink, B. (eds) Cities and the Super-Rich. The Contemporary City. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54834-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54834-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55715-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54834-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)