[rrsmtz]

> elites come from among the people ... People generate elites

That's just false! In every society, the elite class is overwhelmingly comprised of families who maintain their high social standing and wealth over decades or centuries. The lower classes are similarly static over the generations, and all classes have a class-specific bias.

If you need proof, take a sampling of the 'Early Life' Wikipedia section of any elite you can think of. Even tech founders, who are more likely socially mobile than most other elites, have overwhelmingly had an upper-middle class upbringing at _least_.

[rayiner]

Your second paragraph is completely at odds with your first paragraph. Founders coming from upper middle class families is not what a society with stable elites looks like.

Zuckerberg for example did come from an upper middle class background. His father was a dentist. His grandfather Jack Zuckerberg was in the Air Force. And his great grandfather came here as an immigrant to Ellis island and worked as a fruit peddler and tailor.

[pen2l]

I see the point you're making (and mostly agree with it,), but I don't know about calling the Zuckerberg family just 'upper middle class', his grandparents came from humble beginnings, sure.

But I'd rather say Mark himself comes from a squarely upper class background. Upper middle class households don't quite send two kids to Phillips Exeter Academy or boarding schools anywhere in that price range (50-60k per year). There's a big difference in income between a dentist who owns his practice and has other dentists working with him vs. just a dentist; Mark's dad was in the former category.

[rayiner]

Upper class families don’t have their kids transfer into Exeter after two years at public high school. But I’m fine calling that upper class, the point is that it’s not anything like generational wealth.