%0 Book
%A Georg Schmid
%D 2021
%C Berlin, Germany
%I Peter Lang Verlag
%@ 2191-1878
%@ 9783631865743
%T The Treachery of the Elites
%R 10.3726/b19014
%U https://www.peterlang.com/document/1140695
%X This book gives explanations for the growing gap in wealth and income and the rise of anti-democratic movements. The power of the elites today is supposedly founded on merit (education, intelligence etc.), but a closer look shows that a well-marked-out pool is just self-re-producing. The power these in-groups wield often leads to moral insensibility, made worse by a condescending attitude towards people further down the food chain. The pre-dominance of the model of the nation-state, with its centralism and top-down structure, is one of the roots of this problem, as is the lack of comparisons and value judgements; examples from transport and urbanism show that they are possible. The deplorable situation is made worse by the “anti-“social-media scuppering open and productive discussions.
%K democracy, populism, economics, transport, urbanism, value judgements
%G English